chAnGE
by TikiTyler9
Summary: Stephanie Meyers has had her fun with these characters- now its my turn. A complete AU story. Each character will have a new history and a different future.See what happens when Twilight changes. Rated M for language, violence and somewhat sexy stuff,lol
1. Time

_**A/N:::: AU. Alternate Universe. It's a term most fanfic writers and readers are familiar with. A certain aspect or several aspects of the cannon story are altered in a large or subtle way, naturally creating a different and unfamiliar storyline. But what if AU was taken to the extreme? What if almost everything changed? Not just a new pairing or a slight twist in the course of events... but what if everything in the story was turned on its head? Would fans still love the story? Would their favorite characters remain their favorite? Or would readers find themselves so utterly pissed that they're ready to hunt down this new author, tear her limb from limb, and toss her into a bonfire?**_

**_That's what I wanted to know. So I decided to write a story just like that. I have taken all the main characters from Twilight (along with several minors) and put them in entirely different situations than we find them in Stephanie Meyer's books. Their origins, pasts, friendships, and loyalties have all changed. The only thing I kept the same was the basic makeup of their individual personalities. I wanted them to remain (deep down) true to themselves and who Stephanie meant them to be. However, they may have a long road to travel before discovering who they really are. _**

**_A few facts and warnings: I will be changing up narrators. As of now, I only plan on doing that once per chapter to keep it from getting too confusing. But unlike Steph's books, I'd like there to be more than one perspective (if you don't count Midnight Sun). Before each chapter, I will post one song that fueled my writing. I love music, and usually there is one or two songs that really are responsible for the feel of a chapter I'm writing. If you love music, I definately encourage you to look up the "song of the day" and give it a listen before/during/ or after reading the chapter. Just a bonus... it's not required, lol. Lastly, I'm giving this sucker a fairly high rating. It's my first maturely-rated story. I'm a Christian, I have morals, and I like to fancy myself a fairly decent person... but in light of taking Stephanie's world for a spin... I thought maybe "holy crow" had to be one of the first things to go. There will be language, and there will be some mild lemons. (But no literary pornos... I'm sorry, I don't have the stomach for writing that kind of detail... only reading it HA!)_**

**_If you hate AU, if you hate alternate pairings, if you hate messing with cannon, if you hate CHANGE-- this is not the story for you. Please hit the back button and continue browsing the awesome selection of fanfics. However, if you like to be surprised... if you enjoy the unexpected, seeing your favorite characters put to the test, and screwing with the status quo... then I urge you to read, review, and most of all-- enjoy. Thanks for reading._**

**_Final note: The narrator of each chapter will normally be identified early on in each chapter, but in chapter one I wanted to keep it a secret until the very end. You haven't missed anything-- just keep reading until the end, and it should be clearer. There will be many mysteries and holes in this plot that will remain unanswered until later on in the story. Thanks for your patience :)_**

*:*:*:***ChApTeR OnE***:*:*:*

_Time._

*:*:*:***SoUnDtRaCk***:*:*:*

_"Haunted" by Poe._

_There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, _

_and be bruised in a new place._

_~Washington Irving_

There is no comfort in the inability to die. There is only imprisonment. There is only thirst. There is only the torturous and endless passing of time. For me, there was only the stone floor, which I knew was cold though I could not feel the chill. There was the constant dripping of water that patted against the stone from the low ceiling. I cannot even imagine how many of those drips I had heard over my time here. Several billion? A hundred times that much? You would think that over all these years my ears would have become accustomed to its whisper, but in truth each drop was like a pin prick to my brain.

Why wouldn't they let me die? Why wouldn't they just kill me? Tear me apart piece by piece and throw me into the flames? I'd heard of them doing it before, though I had yet to witness it. Was my crime worthy of a punishment so much worse than death? Surely Hell couldn't be worse than _this_ form of eternal damnation. What I had done never felt like a crime. It never felt wrong. It felt pure. It felt wonderful. And even after all these maddening years, it was the only thing holding me together.

A small chink in the stone wall winked at me with the sunshine that pierced through. The sunlight streaked through the darkness like a glittering spear. I couldn't reach the wall _or_ the shaft of light, chained as I was to the center of the small dungeon. But I could almost touch the place where the sunlight stabbed the stone floor. I lay on my stomach and stretched my fingers as far as they could go towards the tiny pool of light, grunting in frustration. I should be able to tear these chains in two as a man tugs a stray yarn from his clothing. But the Volturi knew how to tame their prisoners. It was constantly seen to that I had hardly enough blood in me to lift my head, let alone break my bonds or bust through walls. I remembered being strong once. I recalled pulling trees from their roots and tossing them into the distance like a javelin. I could bring down an entire moose without thinking about it. It was like pouncing on a kitten. That was a long time ago. Back when there was animal blood flowing through my system. It always left me a little unsatisfied, but the dissatisfaction never reached my unbeating heart. I always felt content, like I was making due with the hand I'd been dealt. The discomfort of thirst for human blood then was nothing compared to my nightmare now. Now I was existing on only a few meager gulps of human blood a week. The blood was more delicious and tantalizing than anything that comes from the wild, but it only served to ignite a fire within me that I couldn't extinguish. It drove me mad... the desire for more, and the repulsion of what I was doing. The blood I was given, the life essence of some poor soul from the streets of Italy, would send me into a typical feeding frenzy. But then there would be nothing left for me to drink. It was like an alcoholic getting one long sip of whiskey before watching the bottle shatter on the floor.

A vampire can't cry. So I could only screw up my face into a twisted mask of grief as I tried with one last heave to reach the shaft of light. I wanted nothing more than to see it sparkle off my fingertips. Just for an instant. I collapsed into a frustrated, shuddering heap, my fingers just an inch shy of the day glow. I couldn't cry. I couldn't sleep. There was no way to loose myself other than slip into insanity. I just lay there for a long while, watching dejectedly as the shaft of light in my cell slowly faded. I closed my eyes and prayed for relief. I prayed for a daydream that could save me from this timeless waking. I was desperate to recall the face. The hair that caught the sunlight, the eyes that glittered out from a creamy face, the laughter that shook me to the core. I wanted to feel those hands that had vanished from my life so long ago... the warm hands that were never afraid to touch the iciness of my marble skin. Sometimes, in my best moments, I swear I can still feel them.

I still didn't understand how that was a crime.

When I opened my eyes again, the ray of light was back. Only now it was dull and blue: a shaft of moonlight. It's funny how time surprises me constantly in here. Just when I think I have a hold on it, it slips through my fingers and changes at a different rate than I expected.

My vampire strength may have faded long ago... but my senses hadn't. I could smell him right before I could hear him. He smelled like long and wild grass, ocean breeze... and human blood. His approach was silent; I didn't hear him until he was right outside my cell.

"I was wondering when you'd come again," I whispered into the silence.

Only vampire ears could hear my small voice over the cry of the crickets outside.

"I can't stay long," his deep voice leaked through the chink in the stone wall, his form blocking out the moonlight as he hovered just outside. Walls are no obstacles to our kind... scaling a stone wall is as easy as strolling down a street.

"Duty calls?" I asked dryly.

"My coven is on high alert tonight," he explained. "They won't explain why, but I know they need me."

"The Volturi guards _did_ seem a bit on edge this morning," I pondered quietly. "I wonder if they're worried about the same thing."

"My leader wouldn't tell me much of anything," he confessed. "Only that my skills were needed. I probably shouldn't even be out here tonight, if the Volturi are indeed on alert. I could be spotted."

I nodded, though he couldn't see me. "Then why are you here?"

Silence. "Sometimes I just need to be."

I sort of smiled. These were the times I came closest to relief. I'm not sure how long ago it was when my strange companion first began appearing just outside my cell. As I said earlier, time plays tricks on me. It was he who had stabbed a small hole in the stone, just big enough for our voices to pass in the slightest whisper that my captors could not hear. He would come only in the dead of night, and only on rare occasions. He came from a coven to the North, though his accent was American, like mine. He said he'd been in Italy a long time though, following his mate's desire to live in the hills of Europe with a coven she had been invited to join. Aside from that, I knew next to nothing about him. He never spoke of his past, or of his coven. He would just come on quiet nights and cling to the wall outside my tower, speaking in soft tones of little nothings here and there. He was always sure to steer most of the questions in my direction, forcing me to tell my tales in order to keep him interested, to keep him nearby. I was terrified of losing him, the only friendly presence I had encountered in all my years in this prison.

We never once spoke of the most obvious topic... my escape. He never offered to break me from my cell, and I never asked. I figured it was out of love for his mate. The Volturi were brilliant. They would discover his identity. And the Volturi were ruthless. They would kill his coven. They would make him watch. I shuddered. I knew the feeling all to well. I knew the sickening dread of watching your world crumble beneath you, your life falling to pieces, and your friends and loved ones dissolving into flame... all because of you. I would not wish that feeling upon anyone, let alone the quiet voice of comfort that visited me like a full moon every month or so.

"Have they fed you recently?" he asked. "You seem pretty desolate this evening."

He didn't mean it to be funny, but I chuckled dryly anyway. Why would I be desolate? "How can you tell?" I asked.

"I just can."

"They fed me this morning. That's why I'm desolate. I feel best when I'm the thirstiest. I hate it when they force that vile human blood down my throat." There was only silence behind the wall, so I pressed on. "I don't understand how you can drink that."

I could hear him sigh wearily. "It's the lifestyle I lead."

"You reek of it."

There was an edge to my voice, but it didn't seem to bother him. "That's because I drink a lot of it."

"For your coven? For your purpose?"  
"I need to stay strong."

"Why?" I dared to ask. "What are you?"

Another pause. "A nightmare. That is all you need to know."

"I think I already knew that." I tried to see him through the hole in the wall. I thought perhaps I could see the hint of his skin in the moonlight... or maybe I was just imagining it, desperate as I was. "How many have you killed today alone?" I asked after a moment.

"Why does that matter?"

I didn't reply, and he sighed again. "You're feeling curious tonight. Did I pick a bad night to come?"

"No," I replied quickly. I didn't want him to go. I always felt calmer when he was near. The moonlight outside flickered as he shifted on the wall. He seemed anxious. Was it funny that I could tell just by the movement of his shadow?

"What is your name?" I asked him. I asked each time he came to visit, and each time he simply answered my question with another question.

"Why a human?"

I blinked in surprise. This had only come up once before. It killed me to think it. "I asked your name," I tried again.

"I killed three humans tonight alone," he replied bluntly. "Do you really want to know more about me? The one who loves humans as you do?"

I swear I suddenly felt cold. Vampires never feel cold. "Why are you doing this?" I whispered.

He didn't answer, he only shifted again. I could suddenly sense his fear spiking through me. It was as if his emotions traveled on the wind. Or perhaps my kind are just that perceptive.

"They're coming!" he hissed. I could hear the growl rumble deep inside him. I weakly pushed myself off the floor and crouched warily.

"Who's coming?" I demanded.

"Be ready," he replied coarsely. "And you may yet survive this." I could hear him push off the wall, and suddenly the shaft of moonlight was once again piercing the floor before me. I sat fuming, my mind in a whir and my emotions now in turmoil. The second my mystery companion vanished, I was always left with this odd feeling of withdrawal from the peace that he created for me. I always felt more alone than ever. This time, I was also left with the bitter aftertaste of his fear, his anger, and his monstrous thirst for blood. Not human blood. Vampire.

When nothing came exploding through the wall or the iron door behind me, I finally allowed myself to settle back into a more relaxed position. It was exhausting just crouching for those few moments. My knees trembled as I wrapped my arms around them and pulled them to my forehead. Unable to sleep, I simply shut my eyes and prayed again for a dream. A quick moment of release, of the mirage that could momentarily deliver me from these shackles. Then it came. The human with the eyes of sunshine. The vision as clear and real as if I was standing right there, as if this memory had taken place only yesterday. Time plays tricks on me.

My face screwed up in pain again. I watched as those eyes laughed lovingly at me, hair sparkling in the daylight more than my skin ever could.

That bright smile bit down on a cherry lower lip, and the voice spoke out to me just as it had so many years ago. It gushed with love, laughter, and gentle play. "So serious...."

I couldn't cry. Not really. But I could sob. I pressed my forehead firmly against my knees and squeezed my eyes as tightly as I could as the name escaped my cold lips in one desperate sob. "Edward...."

And that was when the door behind me burst open.

*:*:*:*:*:*

**A/N:::: So????? Love it? Hate it? Please let me know. I'm not the type to beg for reviews, but in this case I'd love to know your thoughts on this idea of mine. This story is just beginning, and I plan on taking our characters for quite a ride. Normally my chapters will be a bit longer than this, but I wanted to make this one short and sweet to capture your attention. Hopefully I did. Thanks so much for reading you guys. And "Nightfall" fans... my new chapter is almost done. I just had to get this one up while it was in my head. Thanks so much for your patience. Love you guys 3**

**--Tiki--**

*:*:*:*:*:*


	2. Monsters

**_A/N:::: So I'm hoping that as this story continues you will all get a better idea of where I'm going here. I know this is kind of different and maybe a little strange, but boy am I having fun with it. I would LOVE it if you guys told me what you think. I'd really like some help with this story. And yes... the narrator of the last chapter was Bella. And yes, she was a vampire. You'll get her story more as I continue. This narrartor is different, and will be revealed earlier on in the chapter. Oh yeah, and this chap is MUCH longer. Hope that's a good thing. Thanks again for reading you guys. --Teek._**

_*:*:*:***ChApTeR TwO***:*:*:*_

_Monsters._

_*:*:*:***SoUnDtRaCk***:*:*:*_

_"Disarm" by Smashing Pumpkins_

_All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France_

Those eyes. They were the makings of most men's nightmares… but my dreams. If I were to have dreams, that is. They were watching me unwaveringly as I washed in the moonlit brook. I could feel her red, haunting gaze on me as I crouched on the rocks and splashed the glowing water onto my face and chest. I smiled slightly to myself as I bathed, my back turned as she watched me hungrily, lovingly, protectively from her place in the tree on the bank. I could feel her emotions on the wind—the longing, the pride, the lust.

Crimson streams cascaded down my muscles and fell into the water. I watched the river carry away my sin.

"I love watching you hunt," she purred behind me.

I turned at last to see her smiling at me from the branches and returned the expression. In the flash of a second, she was standing on the rock beside me. Her eyes were at my nose level and I touched the tip of my nose gently between her eyebrows with a chuckling grin.

"The way you bathe in their blood is so beautiful to me," she continued. "You're like a shaft of lightning, delivering the end and restoring your light." Her smile flashed in the moonlight as she looked up at me. "You're my Zeus."

I gave a throaty chuckle and touched her marble cheek as she brushed a hand through my wild hair. "Watching you hunt is the only thing I enjoy more than hunting myself…."

"I love you," I replied softly.

Her smile widened. "You're just saying that because you're full of blood," she teased. "Because your eyes are scarlet and because there's a fight looming on the horizon."

"I'm saying it because I'm your husband," I grinned, leaning in to kiss her. But with one finger she stopped my advances, pressing it to my lips with a mischievous grin as she reached up with the other hand and swiped it gently across my chin.

"You missed a spot," she cooed, her hand coming away with human blood. She sucked on her fingers with laughing eyes, then drawing nearer to me once more wiped another smear of blood from the corner of my lips and held it to my mouth. Now it was my turn to watch like a predator as I sucked on her fingers and met her burning gaze. I swear I was purring. That woman could do it to me. She was now so near to me that our lips were just touching.

"Say it," I commanded huskily.

"I love you, Jasper," she whispered. "And you better come back to me in one piece when this night is over."

"Maria," I breathed her name and pressed my lips firmly against hers. My deadly fangs were nothing to her as I passionately bit at her tongue and lips, my chest rumbling with desire. Maria's fingers became tangled in my hair as I pulled her closer and listened to her purrs over the tumbling water that surrounded us. I was thinking back to the first night I'd ever seen her… smoky brown hair tumbling down her back in a white dress that seemed to glow almost as much as her skin. I was dying under the full moon on a battlefield in Gettysburg, thinking of my sister who was waiting for me back in Texas. The field was empty of everyone except the dead and the soon-to-be dead. Their moans were like dull sirens in my ears. I can remember watching a cricket as it sang on blade of grass beside my head. I focused on its song, trying not to hear the cries of my brothers and enemies and trying not to feel the hot blood still pouring slowly from the hole in my gut.

I started to hear the cries of the wounded worsen in a strange way. They would scream out suddenly, and then become lost in the chorus of night bugs. I lifted my head as high as I could, and could see nothing at first… only the distant glow of a fire somewhere on the horizon beneath a starry sky. That effort alone was enough to pass me out. When I came to again there was a strange and horrible slurping noise coming from just a few yards away. Again I attempted to lift my head, and this time I saw her.

She was crouching over a fallen soldier of the North, her hair hiding her face as she buried herself into his neck. I watched dumbstruck as her fingers flexed in sheer euphoria on the dead soldier's chest. I couldn't stop the gasp from escaping my lips. She lifted her head, staring at me with eyes that burned like embers. The face was the most beautiful I'd ever seen, pale and oval with lips that were bright red with fresh blood. I watched as she stood and glided towards me, bare feet stopping right beside me. I let myself fall back down exhausted onto the dirt, my chest heaving. I was now choking on my own blood. I knew I had only moments left. To be honest, I thought perhaps I was already dead, and my angel had come to take me away.

I know I should have felt afraid. But I wasn't. She was smiling down at me, wiping the back of her porcelain hand across her mouth. "You're not scared," she noted in a melodic voice.

"I'm just ready," I sputtered, trying to speak clearly through the bile in my throat.

She cocked her head in an inhuman way. "Ready? For what?"

"To… die."

She then crouched beside me, and placed a hand upon my forehead. Her fingers felt like ice against my feverish skin. "You're lovely," she whispered.

If my mouth wasn't practically brimming over with blood, I would have laughed. The thought of that stunning creature finding me attractive was enough to send any dying man into hysterics.

"What's your name?" she asked, bringing her hand to my open wound and gently letting my blood drip onto her fingers.

It was almost impossible to speak, but I managed. "M-major Jasper Whitlock… ma'am."

She put her bloody fingers to her face and smiled like an angel. An angel of death.

"I really hope you survive, Jasper Whitlock," she purred as she leaned towards my neck. The last thing I recall of that night was her whispering in my ear, "I have a good feeling about you."

And now here we were… over 150 years later, and she was mine. I was her Zeus. And I had to leave.

I know she sensed it. "I really hope you survive, Jasper Whitlock," she murmured into our kiss, then once again whispered in my ear, "I have a good feeling about you."

I don't know if I was feeling her fear or my own, but suddenly I couldn't think about the possible outcomes of this night for another second. I pressed my lips with heated passion to hers once more, shutting my eyes so as not to see or reveal any fear, before I flew away from her with speed that made me invisible even to a vampire.

As I sped through the forest towards the city I tried not to picture her standing alone in that brook, and instead focused on my mission. Someone was coming for the prisoner, the human-lover in the tower. I had been fearing this night for many years now, fearing the moment when I would have to stop pretending to be someone else… stop pretending to have a heart when I didn't. The only form of a heart I had was to that goddess standing in the brook. Not the beaten voice that filtered through the crack in the tower wall. The one I had spoken to on lonely nights for the past fifty years. Sometimes I don't think she even knew we'd been talking that long. My visits were spread thin, and time plays tricks on the immortal prisoners of the Volturi.

I slipped into Volterra like a ghost, scaling and hurtling the city walls and landing softly on the cobblestone street. I stopped running for a moment, probably against my better judgment, and instead chose to walk briskly through the maze of buildings. The city was dead-silent beneath the night sky. Despite my allegiance to the Volturi, I spent very little time within its walls compared to the rest of my coven. I didn't like the stone… the streets, the alleys, the buildings. I didn't like to constantly smell the people I wasn't permitted to constantly consume. I didn't like walls. I preferred the open. I chose the forests, the grassy hills, the cliffs that overlooked the tumbling sea. I needed room to run. I needed air. Marie understood and respected these wishes. She was quick to join me, to spend weeks at a time away from the walls of Volterra, running alongside me through the trees and across the hills. She knew she owed me; I smiled to myself as I walked. It was almost a hundred years ago that the Volterra sought out my wife and me in Texas. They had heard of our talents… of our uncanny teamwork within the Southern Covens. My wife was ambitious when it came to power. She'd been a vampire for near two hundred years when we first met, and in that time had developed a keen and militant mind. She was determined not to wander the world as a nomad. She envisioned herself a part of a great clan… a coven that could control an entire population of humans, where we would feed, breed, and live without fear, without cowering in the shadows. I had to admire her drive, her vision….

And then she found me…. With me lay the answer to her success. With her strategy and experience, she was able to use me to clear the way to her victory. It didn't take long for her to realize my potential. I was born to kill. Not just the way any vampire kills, but almost as an art form. I could destroy anyone—size, skill, and numbers were all irrelevant.

Maria would laughingly say that it was because of how I almost died. "You were taken down once in battle my love," she teased, "And now you're determined to let the world around you fade before that ever happens again."

I snickered. Perhaps she was right, but I looked at it as a service. I was ridding the world of more of our nightmarish kind. We were all monsters… what did it matter how many I killed? But for all the vampires I killed… I also created them. Maria and I had been in the process of forming the greatest army of newborn vampires the world had ever seen when the Volturi finally interceded. Normally, anyone who dared attempt such a risky maneuver would be killed on sight, but the Italian coven had other plans for us. They were interested in our services. They had heard of Maria's ambitious skill, and were impressed with her constant victories over the other Southern covens. And they'd heard of my training ability… my strange gift to sense and affect emotions that enabled me to skillfully train the unpredictable newborns. But mostly… they wanted me to kill. That's what I was to them… an assassin. The best there was.

My wife had been more than eager to become a part of the revered Volturi. I had not been so keen on the idea. I liked life the way it was. I loved my small coven… my army… my hot Texas nights. But more than anything I loved Maria, and so I followed her once more—to Italy.

I smelled blood, and immediately the venom was pooling in my mouth. I snapped my head towards a lamppost, where a single woman was enjoying a cigarette. It smelled awful… how could humans enjoy such an activity? She wasn't much older than Maria was when she was changed… probably in her late twenties. I paused to look at her as she watched me with a gaping mouth and smoke curling from the cigarette dangling between her lips. Her deep brown eyes were like saucers as she watched me. I could feel the emotions shooting from her.

She was scared shitless. I wasn't armed. I wasn't walking towards her. I was just watching her. But I guess I'm enough of a nightmare that humans can just sense it somehow. And I'm sure my eyes were scaring her, the red irises glittering in the streetlight.

She was filled with desire. Lust radiated from her as she took in the moonlight shimmering on my bare ivory torso. I snorted to myself. My kind really had it too easy. I stared at her for a moment more. Her blood was calling to me, even after the others I'd already fed on this evening. I was never good at saying no. But tonight I had other blood to spill.

I ducked my head politely. "Buona sera," I muttered, before stalking off once again. I took to a run once more the moment I was around the corner. I suddenly found myself outside that familiar tower. The one without windows. I could smell them all in there. I could feel them even more. Their despair, their bitterness, their intense desire for a death that would never come. It made my bones shake. Once again I found myself torn. I knew they were coming… Aro had told me they'd be coming. I knew I needed to kill them… but that one aura of emotion was calling to me again. The one that was slightly different from the others. The one that was overflowing with love. The passion in that emotion was like river water, and all the sadness and bitterness were like the rocks it ran over. I could see them, but the water was more beautiful. The water was refreshing.

Once again I went against my better judgment. I scaled the wall in an eye-blink, up to that tiny crack in the stone. Her smell was pouring out… clovers and rain, which hadn't vanished even after all these years locked in stone.

"I was wondering when you'd come again," she whispered.

"I can't stay long," I told her, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice, and trying to keep her from feeling it. Whenever I was clinging to this wall I tried to project nothing but peace, despite all the torment from the other prisoners that was constantly assaulting me. It was painful to be out here… yet somehow worth it.

"Duty calls?"

"My coven is on high alert tonight," I explained. "They won't explain why, but I know they need me." It was mostly a lie. I knew why we were on alert. I just didn't know how they knew to be. Mostly because I just didn't care. Aro told me they were coming. Probably tonight… or soon. And I knew that I needed to kill them. And I didn't dare tell the prisoner that they were coming for her—that I was planning on stopping them. I didn't want to. I had to. But she wouldn't understand.

"The Volturi guards _did_ seem a bit on edge this morning," she mentioned. "I wonder if they're worried about the same thing."

I grimaced. She had no idea. No idea who I worked for. I had told her long ago that I belonged to another coven. Right at that moment, I wished desperately that I did. I lied to her again, telling her that my leader wouldn't tell me anything. I told her that my skills were needed. At least _that_ was the truth. "I probably shouldn't even be out here tonight, if the Volturi are indeed on alert. I could be spotted." That was the truth as well. I would be killed if they heard me speaking with the prisoner. Sharing thoughts with her, even if most of them were lies. Keeping her company… they would surely execute me. A century of service… all irrelevant with one betrayal. I grinned dryly to myself—they would _try_ to kill me.

"Then why are you here?" she demanded, suddenly a bit sharp.

"Sometimes I just have to be," I replied honestly. I wish I had a better answer. But I didn't. I truthfully didn't know why I came here. Why I subjected myself to emotional turmoil pounding into my system just so I could share a few moments with a traitor—a human-lover. I was the last one who should be speaking to her actually. My body shook with chills that didn't come from the other cells.

The conversation was uncomfortable after that. It was a bit more tense than usual. Perhaps this was a sign of things to come—a sign that things were changing. Our walls were crumbling, and we weren't speaking the way we used to. Had our uses for each other worn out? It felt like the end of something. Had time run out for one of us?

"I killed three humans tonight alone," I told her bluntly after she asked my name once more. I was feeling bitter, and I'm not sure why. Was it because of the woman who had been watching me helplessly this evening? Or was it because of the disgust I felt radiating from the other side of the wall? Or was it just out of fear of losing her… the prisoner who smelled like fresh laundry. "Do you really want to know more about me? The one who loves humans as you do?"

Her response tore at my heart… the one I thought I no longer had. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.

Panic. I felt it like a blow to the head. It was spreading like wildfire in the city below. I belonged to my coven. "They're coming!" I hissed, more to myself than her.

"Who's coming?" she asked, and I felt her fear spike through me. I glanced despondently one last time at the crack in the wall. Took in her scent. It felt like goodbye. That scared me.

"Be ready," I warned gruffly. "And you may yet survive this."

I didn't wait for a response. I just threw myself from the tower wall, tumbling in the air before landing in a ready crouch below. Confidence. Smugness. I sensed it and it turned my stomach. I knew who it was before he spoke from the shadows behind me.

"Nice of you to show," Demetri's sneered as he came to stand beside me. "I thought you were supposed to be fast."

I didn't look at him; my eyes were searching the shadows. "And I thought you were supposed to be a tracker," I replied. "Where are they?"

"Down boy," he whispered darkly. "They're coming."

"How do you know?"

"Already killed Alec," he replied without emotion, void of regret. "He was patrolling the outskirts."

I winced. I should have been there… and I was guessing Demetri knew that. Bastard.

"They must have caught him by surprise," I noted. "Really the only way to kill Alec."

"Either way, I think it's safe to say our boy's little parlor tricks didn't work." He leered at me. "Let's see if yours will."

I snarled, glaring through the hair that fell in front of my eyes. He always hated me. Demetri was a skilled hunter… perhaps the best. The vampire could find someone in any corner of the globe as long as he had a taste of their "mental current" or whatever shit he sensed. All I knew was that I hated he knew mine. And I knew that despite his hunting talents, the guy was about as useful in a fight as a hole in the head. That's where I came in. I was the Volturi's favorite soldier… and that pissed him off all sorts of ways. It had been this way for a hundred years—the tracker versus the killer.

Compassion. Concern. Revenge. Fear. Love. I felt it coming at me from all directions. It didn't belong to anyone I knew.

"They're here," I muttered. "Five of them. They're surrounding us."

Demetri crouched beside me. "Where?"

"Go in the direction of the clock tower," I commanded, sending him a wave of passiveness to urge some cooperation out of the bastard. "Three of them are headed for the back entrance."

"And you?"

"There are two who will be waiting to cover their escape," I replied. "I'm going after them."

"You're taking the smaller number?" he scoffed, and I eyed him darkly.

"Trust me," I said dryly. "I'm doing you a favor."

I could feel the determination in the one aura. The one who was projecting love. There was also a frightening about of darkness there—an overwhelming desire to succeed. The one seeking revenge was nearby too. I waited until Demetri was gone, neither of us wishing the other luck, and then took off towards the emotions I was feeling. The streets were emptier than I had ever seen them. It was like the humans knew to stay indoors tonight. I felt the emotions getting stronger as I drew closer to the outskirts of the city. They became almost like my own, which meant I was getting closer. I sniffed the air as an autumn wind hit my face. Paper, fog, and deer. There was one. I hopped up on the wall, my eyes scanning the city as I crouched in the shadow of the clock tower that eclipsed the moon. I sniffed again. Snow and peppermint. There was the other one.

Then there was one I _did_ recognize: driftwood and berries. She was beside me before I could even turn my head.

"Miss me, handsome?" Maria giggled, kicking her feet over the edge of the wall. The thought of hunting always made her giddy. I smiled anxiously.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "This is _my_ job."

"There are two of them."

"I know that," I replied, perhaps a bit smugly.

She ignored me. "One small female. Blonde. And a boy. Fast. Faster than you. Be careful, Love."

"We doing this together?" I sighed.

She smiled again. "Just like the old days."

I kissed her quickly, wishing I could give it more time. "I'll see you when they're dead," I said, and vanished.

I went for the one that smelled like snow. I wasn't entirely sure why… something to do with being a child, and seeing it for the first time. Someone had thrown it into my hair with a laugh… I could hardly remember. Someone with straw-colored hair and blue eyes.

_OH GOD!_

I dropped like my strings had been cut. The most excruciating pain coursed through my entire body. I thought of all the times I'd been bitten by the newborns I'd fought and killed. I remembered how they would swarm me, biting and clawing, covering my marble skin in crescent marks. I recalled the pain the venom would inflict. This was ten times worse.

My body quivered as I scratched at my skin, trying to get the burning sensation off of me. I grunted and growled like an injured animal, kicking up dirt and leaves as I writhed. Through the haze of pain, I saw a lovely young girl standing over me. She was smiling.

"My my," she purred. "Aren't you pretty?"

I snarled, snapping my teeth and unable to speak as the fire traveled in every inch of my body.

"My name's Jane Cullen," she continued sweetly. "What's yours?"

I was scared. Scared that Maria would hear me and come looking. Scared to watch her fall to the ground in pain like this. I couldn't stop myself from writhing, but I was determined not to scream.

"Don't be shy," she said, and I could feel the desire for revenge radiating from her. Her emotions became my own. And suddenly I realized that was the key. It's amazing the power emotions can have. I think she noticed my eyes change just a split second before it happened, because that stupid smile was suddenly wiped from her face.

I blasted everything I had at her. Every ounce of pain I was feeling, every fear, every piece of anger, every emotion I was still carrying inside me from those poor souls stuck in the windowless tower. It was like throwing a dumpster at a rat. Jane crumpled instantly to the ground, a strangled gasp escaping her lips before her entire body began to shudder. The pain instantly vanished, as if it had never been, and I stood to walk to her side. I continued to blast her as hard as I could, letting the blizzard of emotion cripple her. I held onto the pain I'd just been feeling, letting her experience every ounce of it.

"My name is Jasper Whitlock, ma'am," I growled. She managed to look up at me, her strange golden eyes meeting mine of furious red, before I fell upon her. I could feel every bit of her… each piece of her fear, her anger, her desperation, as I tore her to shreds. Just like always, it was like a kick in the chest. I waited until it was all over, until her pieces lay strewn about me, before I let it affect me. I was on my knees, trying to let the scent of the night wind to clear my head as I listened to Jane's limbs twitching on the ground. The crickets helped.

"Well look at the mess you made," Demetri's voice was back, and it was the last thing I wanted to hear. He was standing over me, shaking his head with a nasty smile.

"If you're here," I muttered almost inaudibly. "It better mean you've taken care of your job."

"The prisoner's gone," he shrugged, and I snapped my head up to glare at him.

"You couldn't stop them?" I snarled.

"Tried to. But there was this really nasty fellow with them."

I gave him a quick once-over. "You look fine," I noted. "I don't see an arm missing… or a head. So what was the problem?"

"He had other ways of stopping me," he answered cryptically.

"Wh—" Then I smelled it. My head snapped back around towards the hills surrounding the city. It was just like that night in Gettysburg for a moment: the bugs chirping, the stars hanging in the sky, and a fire burning in the distance. But this smoke was purple and black.

"No…." I breathed. "Take care of the pieces," I told Demetri, leaving him with the remains of my victim as I flew off into the distance. I completely ignored his calls for me to return. If my heart could beat, it would have been hammering as I sped across the hillside to where the smoke was rising. My legs were pushing me as fast as I could run.

_He's fast. Faster than you._

I paused for one heart-breaking moment at the top of the hill, looking down into the clearing. The fire was still blazing, sending brilliant embers scattering into the night. The wind lingered with the terrible smell of ashes, along with a mingled combination of paper, driftwood, fog, berries, and deer. I didn't run. I walked slowly to the fire's edge. Something was glinting in the firelight in the grass.

A milky-pale hand was still twitching on a bed of moss. On one finger shone a ring of dazzling white gold. It was almost as smooth, white, and beautiful as the skin of the hand. I felt numb as I bent to pick the hand off the earth. I was trembling as I clutched the hand and wedding band to my chest.

Vampires often don't sound human. But I don't think any creature has ever sounded as demented and wild as I as I lifted my face to the moon and howled into the night. My chest was shaking as the sound flew from my throat. Even more carrying than the sound of my grief was my emotion. It took flight into the air and burned like the fire's embers as the wind passed over the hills.

I swear every creature in Italy felt the chilling sting of my hate on that night in October.

*:*:*:*:*


	3. Love, Hate, and Dark Promises

**_A/N:::: Ok, so I'm still not sure whether this story is being enjoyed or not, lol. But no matter what, I know I'm enjoying writing it. And thank you to whoever chooses to read it, especially my sister, who is my biggest supporter. I miss writing for Narnia... but my computer is being repaired and on it is my Nightfall story, which I can't write until I get it back :(_**

**_Anyway, on with the story. I have a few new links posted on my profile that may interest you. I have some characters in this chapter who I thought deserved a face to go with them, so feel free to take a look. If you have your own idea of what he or she may look like, then by all means message me. I'd love to take a look! I'll prob even post it along with MY link :) I also wanted to include a link to this chapter's soundtrack, since the song is a bit harder to find than the others. But it's seriously beautiful, and perfect for this part in the story. Enjoy it!_**

*:*:*:***_ChApTeR ThReE_***:*:*:*

_Love, Hate, and Dark Promises._

*:*:*:***_SoUnDtRaCk_***:*:*:*

_"Sanctuary" by Utada Hikaru_

_"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." – Anthony Brandt_

I didn't know if this was my salvation or my extermination. The door of my cell exploded open, wooden splinters shattering across the stone floor, and I lifted my head into the torch-lit glow of the entryway. The creatures I saw there did not seem to be Volturi. They were more beautiful… with skin that seemed less like ice and more like porcelain and eyes that glowed a rich topaz. I knew that glow. My eyes had looked like that once. There were three of them. Two males and a female.

The male with the sharp features and the pale hair ran to my side and knelt beside me. "Bella Swan?"

I blinked up at him and nodded dully. "Who are you?" I croaked weakly.

"Carlisle Cullen," he replied briskly but gently, taking my chains in his hands and snapping them like twigs. "We're getting you out. I know you're tired, but you must try to hurry."

I let him lift me from the floor, cradling me in his strong arms. He smelled like a dewy sunrise. The other two vampires were still at the doorway, watching me carefully. "She's very fragile," the female noted.

"He's going to be so fucking pissed," the male remarked in a voice that sounded almost bored, despite the tension in the air.

"Let's just get her out of here," the one called Carlisle said, holding me tighter to his chest.

"I can hear more coming," the female said, watching Carlisle anxiously. She was nervously tugging on her copper braid of hair, like a child.

"How many?"

She tilted her head. "I'd say seven."

I felt a shiver travel down my spine. "Careful," I muttered into his shirt. "They're deadly…."

I felt his chest rumble in dry laughter. "We'll be careful, Bella. You just focus on holding on when I make a run for it."

Even I could hear the guards now, and I marveled at how soon the female had heard.

"I'll be no good for fighting with her in my arms. Charlotte, you be sure to clear any stragglers."

The female nodded before glancing at the male. He was more handsome than any of the Volturi I'd seen, with closely-cropped brown hair and heavy-lidded eyes. "Ten seconds, Peter," she warned him. "Ready?"

He didn't even bother replying. He just nodded distractedly, watching the turn in the tower corridor. I swear he looked entirely disinterested, unlike the female with her golden eyes wide with anxiety.

I struggled to watch from my place in the leader's arms. At least, he seemed to be the leader. The dark-haired male named Peter took one step forward, his arms folded across his chest. My eyes widened; he must truly be a gifted warrior to destroy all seven Volturi guards at once.

The Italian vampires came ripping around the corner, as quick and graceful as phantoms. I could hear the snarls rumbling in their throats and their venom spitting from their mouths as they charged. But still Peter didn't move. He simply smiled as if he'd just been told a stupid joke, dipped his chin a bit, and raised his thick brows. The blur of seven Volturi vampires quickly broke down into a garble of swaying and falling bodies. Only two vampires managed to untangle themselves from the collapsing bodies, and continued sprinting towards us. The one called Charlotte tore into them gracefully, like a dancer. One twist and a crouch and suddenly I was watching both Volturi heads roll across the floor. I cringed. Those would be hell to reattach later.

I returned my attention to the bored male again. He seemed to not have moved one inch. He was still staring with arms folded and a bored but amused expression at the remaining five Volturi, who were now sprawled out on the floor of the corridor. At first I thought they were dead, and the couple who were still twitching must have been in utter agony. But then I noticed that their faces actually seemed peaceful… even content. They had fallen into some sort of slumber. I had not seen a vampire sleep in all my years, nor had I ever heard of such thing. The two that were still twitching on the floor were actually just trying to fight the pull of sleep. But it was a battle they were losing fast. I could see the cloud of slumber settle across their deadly faces, and soon their cheeks were resting against the stone and their piercing eyes shut softly.

I tried to find the words. "H-how did--"

"Later, Bella," Carlisle interjected, and then I was moving at the speed of light. The torches on the walls became blurred lines of gold as we sped through the tower. My keen eyes managed to catch sight of several other members of the Volturi, all sprawled out on the floor in a human-like slumber. I shook my head in disbelief. Peter and Charlotte were close behind, I could hear them. They were actually arguing. At a moment like this.

"--not getting cocky at all!" he was protesting.

"Keep it up!" Charlotte snarled in return. "One day it'll be _your_ head I'll see rolling across the floor. Do you honestly want to do that to me?"

"You'll reattach it," he lolled patiently.

"You know what happens with ones who have gifts like you do? They use them as a crutch!"

"A crutch?"

"A crutch!"

"So what are you suggesting, Love? A little less help from my end? Would you rather I stand by and watch you take on the whole crowd of Volturi? Be my guest. I'd love to see you try," he chuckled. His passive tone was in stark contrast to her near hysterics. It was the funniest thing I'd experienced in a longer time than I could describe.

"Are you saying I couldn't handle it?" she shrieked.

"I'm saying you're being absurd."

"Oh, so now I'm _absurd_? That's it… don't expect any survival sex when we get home."

He snorted in disbelief. "You always give in when it comes to survival-celebration."

"Enough you two," Carlisle snapped over his shoulder. "Stay focused." He sounded like a father; it made me smile. I suddenly felt wonderful.

We were now at the base of the tower, and Carlisle slipped into the underground catacombs. It was like he knew the place inside and out. I frowned to myself. He didn't remind me of the Volturi at all. We sped through the maze of darkness, wind tossing my hair across my eyes as I watched the stone structure of the catacombs fly past me. I could see a column of shimmering silver just ahead. It was moonlight. Unadulterated, pure, fresh moonlight pouring in through the ceiling. I could smell the autumn air.

Suddenly a figure dropped in through the shaft of light, falling lithely on the floor just a few yards before us. My three saviors came to an abrupt halt. The newcomer was smiling like a vulture, his mouth twisted and his crimson eyes narrowing. I'd seen this vampire only once before, long long ago. But his sudden reappearance made it feel like yesterday. I could remember his terrible smile, his dark hair speckled with blood as he destroyed my life. He was one of the hunters. One of the assassins I'd managed to get a horrible glimpse of that fateful day… the day my world ended. Demetri.

"Been a while since you've seen the moon, hasn't it?" he asked me as I watched him wide-eyed from Carlisle's arms. Carlisle tightened his grip on me protectively. I swear I already loved him. "I hate to take that from you." His laughter said otherwise. I flinched. Most vampires have a melodic voice, an alluring voice. Not Demetri. He cackled like a witch.

The exchange I heard just behind me was so fast I almost didn't catch it.

"Do I have your permission?" Peter asked with a grin in his voice.

"Fuck you," his mate snarled.

Throaty laughter, then suddenly the hunter before us began to droop. His head was struggling to stay upright, and he dropped to one knee.

"What the hell?" he hissed, eyelids fluttering beneath a furrowed brow. He was fighting harder than most of the others I'd seen, slamming his fists into the floor in frustration. But the slams of his fists should have been able to crumble stone; I didn't even feel the vibration.

Peter took a step beside me, and I could finally see his smug grin, his relaxed face. "Been a while since you've seen sleep, hasn't it?" he asked Demetri wryly. "Well don't let us stop you." He led the way to the shaft of moonlight, where the Volturi guard was now lying, twitching slightly. The rest of us followed. Peter stopped at Demetri's side and looked up into the glow; the moonlight sparkled off his beautiful face. "I forgot when I was enjoying the jump down from there what a bitch it would be to jump back up," he noted to us, and I realized that the entrance above was higher than most of the ceiling. A steep shaft lead to the outside. "But it's nothing we can't handle," Peter continued. "Though it may be a bit cumbersome with Bella in your arms," he mentioned to Carlisle. "Can you handle it, old man?"

"Just jump, wiseass," Carlisle mumbled. His sarcasm sounded strange on his fatherly voice.

Peter laughed slowly and nodded. "Sure thing, Pops," he chuckled. I watched as he delivered one swift kick to Demetri, sending the sleeping vampire flying several yards away before bounding straight up into the air and vanishing into the moonlight. It looked like an angel ascending into Heaven. Carlisle took a few more steps forward, into the light. I felt light-headed when we hit the glow. I could actually _feel _it shimmering off my skin. I was looking up into Carlisle's face when suddenly I felt his body go rigid.

Charlotte sensed this as well. "What is it?" she hissed.

"It's Aro," he whispered. "He's waiting for us."

"_Where?_"

"Right above us."

"What!?"

Carlisle sighed. "I didn't sense him before. He's learned to disguise his scent very well. I probably wouldn't have smelled him at all if I hadn't known him."

"Peter doesn't know!" she shrieked. I could hear the sheer terror in her voice.

"He's all right for now, Charlotte. Aro won't do anything until he sees me."

I could tell she was trying to steady her voice as she asked, "So… what do we do now?"

"There's only one thing we can do," he sighed. "Only one thing that keeps Peter alive." I felt his fingers flex anxiously on my shoulders as he hugged me closer, and then we were rocketing into the sky. In less than one second we had burst into the open air. I can't fully describe the wonder of that feeling… of the night wind kissing my face and filling my nose. I had next to no time to savor it, for the next scent to reach my nose was a ghostly smell of pressed rose petals and spice. I turned my head to see a delicate, aged looking vampire staring at Carlisle, me, and Charlotte as she emerged beside us. Peter was in his grasp, looking more frustrated than afraid as he squirmed in Aro's hands, which looked like paper that could tear, not something able to contain someone like Peter.

Charlotte was trembling beside me in fury, her ochre eyes looking more deadly than any red ones I'd ever seen. Carlisle held me steadily, watching Aro without any sign of emotion. Aro smiled; it wasn't frightening really… just a little sad… bittersweet.

"Hello, Carlisle," he greeted.

"Been a long time, Aro," he nodded in return.

"What are you planning on doing?" he asked.

Carlisle glanced down at me briefly; I saw the compassion in his face. "Taking the girl home, Aro."

"You could not have first discussed this with me?"

"You wouldn't have allowed it. Please don't insult me by suggesting otherwise."

Aro smiled again. "You're correct. This matter is something I feel strongly about."

"Why?" he breathed in disbelief. "She hasn't hurt you. She's done nothing wrong. Don't you think Bella suffered enough for a circumstance beyond her control?"

"She had the chance to stop it all… in the very beginning. She did not take it."

"But why _keep_ her?" Carlisle asked. "Why make her suffer for so long?"

"We have our reasons."

"So what now?" Carlisle asked. "Kill all us? The four of us against only you? Your guards are all down or dead."

"Not all of them…" Aro replied cryptically, eyes searching the shadows curiously, as if he expected someone to drop in on us momentarily. It made me nervous. "And I have faith in your skill, Carlisle, and your companions. Which is why I have not harmed you yet. Perhaps we can discuss this like civilized beings. You know I have no stomach for war anymore."

"And you know I never did," he replied gruffly. "So if we are to be civilized, perhaps you should release my son."

Aro's smile twisted just the slightest as he turned to look at Peter's fiery eyes, which had finally lost all traces of their nonchalance. "Ah yes… the sleeper." He chuckled. "A very interesting creature. Curious as to why your gifts won't work on me, boy?"

"Happens…" Peter snarled, struggling to speak with both of Aro's hands curled around his throat.

"It's because I'm a man who cares not for war… but who adores weapons. I chose mine very carefully, and I use them very effectively. That is what protects me, and why my scent, my strength, and my mind are all illusive to your kind."

"That's enough, Aro," Carlisle growled. "Let him go and we'll talk."

"See, there's the rub, Carlisle. Then I lose everything. So I'd like to strike a bargain with you. Take the poor girl. Leave this one to me."

"NEVER!" Charlotte roared, taking one dangerous step forward.

"Not the… joining type," Peter sputtered.

"He would never stay with your coven, Aro," Carlisle said with a face of beautiful stone.

"I wouldn't be asking."

"And you know I won't allow it."

"Of course not. But it's a matter of choosing with lives to save, Carlisle. If you refuse, I tear apart the boy now, and you could take the time to attack me. But I warn you, I have two of my best assassins on their way now. And I can assure you… they will kill all of you. And you would have even less chance without the aid of your sleeper here. However, if you leave him with me, you could escape with the girl now. And I have enough faith in your skills to admit you and the rest of your family would have a fighting chance of getting home safely."

"I vote for gambling that your assassins are all smoke and mirrors," Charlotte hissed. "I'm not leaving. Even if they are real, let them tear me to shreds. It will be worth it if I'm pulling you limb from limb after hurting my husband."

My head was suddenly screaming. My still heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. It was an indescribable feeling. Out of nowhere came this burning passion on the wind… this blast of sheer hate and agony that was nearly crippling. It made me suddenly feel like screaming. I cringed in Carlisle's arms, and felt him waver on his feet. At first I thought this was Aro's doing, but on his face was an inquisitive expression as he lifted his nose to the sky.

I smelled smoke. Ashes. The scent burned my nose and felt almost as bitter as the blast of emotion still trembling within me. Charlotte was looking weakened, and in Aro's grip, Peter suddenly became very still. His eyes darted about curiously as a strange expression flickered across his face. Something like familiarity.

Aro's mouth curved into a dry smile.

"Oh Carlisle," he sighed. "There truly is only one way to solve this."

We all eyed him curiously, our chests still constricting a bit in the wake of the passion we'd just felt.

"I'm going to let you go."

Peter frowned in shock, and Carlisle straightened. "What's the catch, Aro?"

"I'm only giving you a stay of execution, my old friend. Take the girl. Take your son. Take your whole family, and go home. Then I suggest you leave Alaska as quickly as you can. One of my best will be coming for you. And something tells me…" he again lifted his eyes to the stars, "he will find you, and he will kill you all."

Carlisle frowned. "My family doesn't go down easy, Aro. You know that."

The older vampire nodded solemnly. "I do. And trust me, old friend, as upset as I am with you for your insubordination, I truly hope you find a way to survive. And if not, I'll try to talk him down to an easy death. Enjoy your time together, Carlisle. I truly wish you happiness in these final days."

And then he was gone, like a wisp of smoke swept away by the wind. Peter was standing alone now, a dazed expression on his face.

"That was weird," he noted wryly as his wife ran to embrace him.

"We need to get out of here now," Carlisle urged, pulling me tight to him once more. Everything around me became just a blur once more. There were few lights on in the city at this hour, and they whizzed past like ribbons of gold. We were up and over the wall in one graceful bound, and suddenly I was looking at trees for the first time in what felt like an eternity. I remembered them well… their whispering leaves, sweet-smelling bark, and gnarled embrace. I was suddenly haunted by another memory… by a human boy with bronze hair sitting between tree roots and munching contently on a sandwich.

"Are you eating _again_?" I'd asked him teasingly, hanging from the lowest branch of the oak.

He jumped; I'd startled him. I was always doing that. "Don't be jealous," he teased, taking another bite.

"Nothing about that seems appetizing to me," I scoffed, leaping down to his side.

"Just me," he smiled.

"Just you," I agreed.

"Charlotte?" Carlisle spoke, drawing me from my thoughts.

She tilted her head. "Just the scents," she noted. "No sounds. No one waiting to ambush right here anyway."

"Do we head to the fire?" Peter asked.

Carlisle shook his head. "He would never stay there. Draws too much attention." He lifted his nose to the air; I watched as the others did the same.

"Smells like he's by the water."

"And Jane?" Charlotte asked, an edge of worry in her voice.

Carlisle shook his head despondently. "I can't get a clear scent."

"Shit," Peter mumbled.

"Let's take this one thing at a time. No jumping to conclusions."

We ran again, through the trees. I could smell the water too now. It was like I was already bathing in it. I wasn't even attempting to wrap my mind around what had just happened. Demetri, Aro, the blast of hate still fading slowly inside me, the frightening promise Aro had made… there was nothing but the three vampires beside me, who I somehow already adored, and then there was the one I always carried with me. He was still there was clearly as if it had been yesterday. Time held no truth for us. I could escape with him whenever I wanted, and right now, in the glory of this forest's nighttime embrace, I couldn't think of a more romantic setting.

As the bubbling of the creek filled my ears, I could hear his laughter echoing in my mind. And then I swear I could see him standing at the water's edge. He was like a ghost beside the shimmering water, his hair just as untamed and his stance just as boyish and his face just as beautiful as always. I smiled wistfully as he crossed the short distance to wear I stood. Time plays tricks on me.

"God… I love you so much," I breathed to myself, the last shred of that hate evaporating.

My vision paused, an expression of awe on his face, and he reached out tenderly to touch me. "My Bella." His voice was just as perfect as I remembered.

And then his fingers graced my cheek, and my entire body froze.

His fingers were like marble, and his once green eyes were now a brilliant topaz.

"Edward?"

*:*:*:*:*:*:*

**_A/N:::: Really hope you all enjoyed! Please tell me your thoughts, it really helps in writing. Like I said before, I posted the actors I pictured for Peter and Charlotte in my profile, along with a link to the soundtrack song. :)_**

**_****_**


	4. Goodbye

_**A/N::::: Don't be mad! I had to step away from the Bella/Edward lovey-doviness for a chapter to go back to the Volturi. The Cullens AND the story behind Ed and Bell WILL be answered next chapter, so hold tight. I'm introducing yet another of our well-known characters in this chapter, so prepare for a new narrator. I tried to stay true to her character, while also giving her a little depth. I think I would have liked her better if I saw a little more of THIS side of her.... Hopefully you'll like her too. And I HAD to make this chapter's change quote from my favorite actor, lol. I couldn't resist. **_

**_Enjoy folks! And as you know, all the characters belong to Stephanie. Except for a select few. Atieno is mine. But unfortunately Jasper is not :(_**

*:*:*:***_ChApTeR FoUr_***:*:*:*

_Goodbye._

*:*:*:***_SoUnDtRaCk_***:*:*:*

_"Here With Me" by Dido._

_"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance...." --Harrison Ford_

The sun was going down the evening after the prisoner's escape, and I was watching its decent in the golden sky from the tower window. I was biting down on my knuckles in deep thought, letting the wind toss my hair about my face. The last hints of dying sunlight were sparkling off my skin. It was silent. There was only the sound of the bell tower chiming in the distance, and the frock of my dress fluttering in the breeze.

My husband Marcus came and put his hands gently on my shoulders, looking past my head to the town and hills beyond. It was as affectionate as he could be.

"My Rose," he spoke softly, "If you continue to bite down like that on your perfect hand, you'll leave a mark. I'd hate to see that skin of yours tainted in any way."

"I know my own strength, Marcus," I muttered distantly, my eyes never leaving the orange sun. How I wanted to lie beneath it, to feel it warm my cheeks as it used to. My husband never let me walk beneath the clear sky. I sighed. After the death of his first wife, I became his second choice. I became his distraction. I was his beautiful canary in a cage of stone.

"He will come back," Marcus was telling me. "Please do not let Maria's tragedy spur this kind of worry inside you. I hate seeing you this upset."

The sound of Maria's name sent a spear through my heart. It didn't seem like it had all just happened in the darkness of this morning, when Marcus had come to me and gently explained that my only real friend in this place was gone. That she had been destroyed by whoever had come to release that Bella creature from her cell. He told me how the rescue party had escaped, had taken the prisoner with them, and how Aro had just let them disappear.

"He was vastly outnumbered," Marcus had explained to me, though I could still hear the disappointment in his voice. "Dr. Cullen has a talented son who can lure vampires into a slumber. All the guards were gone. Demetri woke soon after he was put down, but instead of chasing down the intruders he went to head off their escape into the woods."

"And they eluded _him_?" I spat. "The great hunter couldn't find a few stranglers in the woods?"

"I believe he was distracted by helping Jasper dispose of one of the Cullen daughters."

I snorted to myself now as I continued to stare out the window. Good. That was one Cullen dead. That was the first taste of pain they'd experience for destroying what bit of happiness I had in Italy. In this so-called existence.

"I'm growing impatient," Caius snapped behind us. "He better be dead if he's taking this long to show."

Still I didn't turn from the window. Marcus's fingers tightened slightly on my shoulders and Aro responded firmly, "Enough, Caius. The poor girl has enough to worry about without your bitter comments. He will show. Give him time."

Caius only grumbled behind me. I was sure he spoke no real words, or I would have caught them, no matter how beneath his breath they were. Always so insistent upon action. Always at odds with his coven-brother Aro. And then there was always my Marcus, floating in the middle of it all. Maria and I used to enjoy watching their sparring. It was like watching three tired old men bicker over a game of cards sometimes. It always made us laugh, always made life here more bearable for me.

My insides kicked again.

Suddenly the wind brought a scent I knew.

Demetri walked into the room first, bursting through the door triumphantly. "I found him," he reported enthusiastically. "He's here."

I finally turned from the window, turned to face the doorway where the vampire we'd been waiting for was slowly walking in. My heart broke all over again. He looked horrible. His eyes were pitch black, and the shadows beneath them like two dark crescent moons. His marble face looked like that of a mourning angel statue in one of the ancient cemeteries, and his stance was pathetic and tired-- not at all like the soldier he always had been. My mind burned with fury. The look in Jasper's face was just another reason to loathe the Cullens.

"So he found me," Jasper spoke dully, not looking at anyone. "Why have you dragged me here?"

Aro approached him, but didn't get too close. We could all feel it... the emotions radiating from him. Sadness, pain, hate, and a horrible dose of self-loathing. He was blaming himself for something.

"We are so truly sorry, Jasper," Aro said as warmly as he could. "Maria was an amazing warrior, and our coven will forever be in her debt."

"Did you need me for something?" Jasper asked briskly, gazing at the stone beneath his feet.

"We need your gifts, Jasper. We need your skill."

"Who do you want dead?" His answers were all flat... lifeless. For the first time since I'd known him, Jasper Whitlock actually seemed as dead as he was.

"The same who you want dead," Marcus spoke beside me. "Isn't it obvious? We want you to go after the Cullens."

"They're long gone by now," he said.

"Only to America," Aro said. "A wide area I know, but there are only so many possible hiding places for a coven as large as theirs. And Carlisle always integrates himself into society; it won't be too challenging to find them once they're settled."

"Send the great tracker," he mumbled, casting the slightest glance at Demetri, who stood grinning darkly beside him. "He'll find them much faster than I."

"It's true," Demetri's smile widened. I growled quietly. How I hated him.

"You're no match for the whole Cullen clan," Aro told him simply. I took a moment to treasure the look on Demetri's face.

"That is _not_--"

But Aro merely held up a weathered hand. "Now is not the time, Demetri. Your hunting skills are renowned. And we are not doubting that you could find them with ease. But it is Jasper who has the ability to bring down an entire coven like that. We would send both of you, but I have no wish to inflict that kind of pain upon either one of you. And I firmly believe that Jasper should be able to deal the degree of revenge he deems worthy of such a crime."

"Don't make this about me," Jasper spoke darkly, and all eyes shot from Aro to the blond assassin. "This is about your revenge. Not mine."

Finally my remorse was replaced by anger. "Jasper," I hissed. "You're not making any sense! These creatures killed your wife! One as dear as a sister to me! You're one of the few who can stop this coven, and you're telling me you're content in staying in Volterra?" I felt the venom pooling in my mouth as my anger churned inside me.

Finally he lifted his head, just a bit, to stare dangerously at me through the tangled locks of his hair. I almost took a step back. He no longer looked like a vampire; he looked like some other wild creature.

"Trust me, sister," he growled, "I will kill the ones who did this. I will hunt and destroy Edward Cullen and his family. I hope it brings you great joy and comfort in knowing that they will burn one by one. But I do this on my own. I do this for Maria. Not as a tool for the Volturi."

"Are you resigning your commission?" Caius snarled, taking a dangerous step forward. In the Volturi, resigning was only a pretty name for suicide. And at this point, Jasper seemed capable.

He was still looking at me when he replied, "Not at all." I felt my chest open in relief. I knew why he was staying. It was for me. Jasper didn't want to leave me alone here. "I am simply making this clear: this hunt... this kill... is for me. It isn't for the coven, it isn't for Aro, and it isn't for the good of the vampire world. This kill is only mine. I will do it my way. And I will return when it is finished. Until then, please stay out of my way."

The room was silent again. Jasper's black eyes swept the room, though he hardly seemed interested in any of our reactions. In the setting sun, his hundreds of crescent scars shone like hundreds of moons up his arms, on his chest and back, and along his neck. The freshest one shone brilliantly just above and below his right eye. That scar was a lingering gift from the one called James-- a vampire Jasper had been hired to kill for his poor choice in hunting grounds. A small town in North Dakota, where the locals were vanishing at an alarming rate and all were on high alert. Several eye-witnesses described seeing their loved ones pulled into the shadows by a pale and glimmering man. That was all the trouble the Volturi needed as an excuse to intervene. James was a skilled tracker, and as such was equally good at not being found. But Demetri managed to track him to a thick forest in Wyoming, and Jasper soon brought peace to the town of Ashley, North Dakota. Those simple locals would never know that they owed their lives to a monster covered in battle scars.

"We will of course abide by your wishes," Aro spoke at last, "and allow you to proceed as you see fit. However, may I suggest you accept some help from our end."

Jasper's gaze darkened even more. "Not likely."

Caius tensed and growled, but Aro only smiled knowingly. "I think you'll change your mind when you hear my offer. The one who killed your wife is a mind-reader, Jasper. Our coven discovered this the hard way, and in doing so lead the Cullens to the prisoner known as Bella. We do not want any more of our secrets to be discovered. And if you are truly planning on picking off the Cullens one by one then I'm guessing you're relying on infiltrating their ranks. The mind-reader would stop you before you even took a single step into their household."

"What are you suggesting?"

"You know all too well of the windowless tower, Jasper. And you know of my interest in the gifts of other vampires. Some, such as you, such as Demetri, I have been lucky enough to befriend-- to earn your trust and loyalty and therefore your talented services. However, I am not always so fortunate. It is not always such a pleasant exchange. Those vampires in the tower, the traitors to our kind that are not fortunate enough to be killed, are brought there to supply me with their special abilities."

My brow knitted in thought, mirroring Jasper's expression. "You... harness their skills?" I asked, searching my husband's face for an answer.

Marcus nodded slightly.

Aro responded. "It all began with our first prisoner-- a young but rebellious vampire named Atieno. She haled from Africa, and was blessed with the uncanny ability to harness the powers of those around her. When she was near a gifted vampire, she absorbed their abilities as long as they stayed near. And so when she was captured-"

"For what crime?" Jasper interjected.

Aro paused. "It was a long time ago, Jasper." My brother only stared coldly. I felt my throat constrict. I feared the truth too often around here.

"She was impossible to detain," Aro continued after a moment. "No cell could hold her, and she was quick to use our own skills against us whenever we were anywhere near her. And so we were forced to destroy her. But we never burned the pieces."

"Then where is she?" I asked.

Aro merely held out his hand, displaying a gorgeous ring on one long finger. It was like an opal, only the colors were a spiraling mixture of shimmering cream and mocha, framed in an oval of ornate gold. "Her uniquely beautiful skin was divided amongst our kind, allowing us to draw on the distinct talents of our prisoners-- so long as they remained alive and in our city."

Even Demetri was swayed by this news. His nose wrinkled in disgust. "You're... _wearing_ her? As jewelry?"

Jasper's eyes met mine briefly. It was a look between siblings. A look uncatchable even by vampires. His eyes were indescribably hopeless. I didn't even want to imagine what mine looked like.

Aro nodded casually, as if this were all nothing, just a clever parlor trick. "As long as Atieno remained unburned, simply torn apart, her powers still took affect. Her talent is transferable to anyone who wears a piece of her." He touched the ring delicately. "This was our first experiment. This small ring has protected me many times. And so the prisoners in the tower have provided me with a glorious palette of possible talents to siphon."

Jasper eyed them all suspiciously, his eyes darting from one ringed finger to the other. I glanced down at the ring on the hand that Marcus had resting on my shoulder, and my insides shuddered.

"So..." my brother spoke, "You could use my own abilities against me? With that ring?"

"We would never do that, Jasper," Marcus spoke up from beside me. I'm guessing he was saying that for my sake, to allay my fears that our family was being used, and to comfort the only important thing I had left in this world.

"What's stopping you?" Jasper hissed.

"You," Aro replied simply. "You are a master of your craft, Jasper. Emotions are your world... your medium. You would be able to tell the moment we attempted toying with yours. And we know and understand that you would not allow it. Besides," he continued, unaffected by Jasper's fierce gaze, "We don't need to force its use. We have you using it for us. We benefit enough from your talents."

"So what does that ring have to do with Jasper?" I asked. "If he uses it to read Edward Cullen's mind, it still won't do him any good at remaining hidden."

"Very true, Rosalie," Aro nodded. "He will not be relying on the gifts of Edward Cullen. It will be their newest coven member. The one who was stolen from our walls."

I frowned. "Bella Swan?"

Aro nodded again, this time with a look of wistful regret on his features. "It's such a shame. Her abilities were some of the most valuable to us during her imprisonment. She will be sorely missed. Bella Swan has the uncanny ability to block out any vampire's abilities that prey on her mind. For instance, I am unable to collect her thoughts. I am sure her mate Edward will find he has the same difficulty. When I was wearing this ring, and drawing on her skills, I was able to avoid slipping into the unconsciousness brought on by the sleeper Cullen. It's a very valuable gift, Jasper. One I'd be willing to pass on to you. Wear the ring, use her powers when in their presence, and avoid detection from the mind-reader."

I could feel nothing coming from Jasper now. His face was blank, and his emotions completely invisible. He was purposefully hiding his emotions from us, determined not to project his feelings on this matter. I watched him curiously, and found myself eying the ring on Marcus's finger with a new and surprising hunger. It took on a new purpose now-- it was a tool of revenge.

"Could I also read their minds?" Jasper asked. "Using Edward's skill?" he spat the name, and I felt my spine shiver in fury just by hearing it.

"You can only siphon the powers of one vampire at a time. They remain unaware of this usually, unless, like you, they are exceptionally in tune with their abilities. They wouldn't notice if you switch, but I would strongly urge against giving up Bella's abilities when you are anywhere _near_ Edward Cullen, which means you could not use his powers."

"But know this," Caius spoke at last, filling the air with a sudden tension, "This gift of the Volturi is the only way for you to survive this encounter. If you have any hope of exacting your revenge, you will take it. And when you take it, remember that you are not as alone in this venture as you believe you are. Let this gift be a reminder that you, Jasper Whitlock, are always working for _us._"

Jasper turned slowly to stare at Caius. The look in his face scared me, and I was so frightened that he was about to say something terrible. I'd seen that look in a few vampires' faces before... it was the look that they had nothing to lose.

But Aro calmed the moment. "Be sensitive, Caius," he spoke softly. "Jasper has suffered a great deal in service to us this day. You should show him some understanding."

"So what is it you're asking?" Jasper asked, once again looking at the floor. I could tell he was concentrating very hard on not projecting his emotions.

"Kill the one who murdered your wife," Marcus said. "Kill the redhead, kill Carlisle." I glanced briefly at Aro to gauge his reaction, and saw a flicker of doubt in his eye. "And kill whoever they picked up along the way. But bring Bella back to us. And we want the sleeper. The one called Peter."

"You want me to bring two prisoners back to you?"

"It should not be too difficult," Aro replied. "We have seen you handle worse. And with Bella's power, you can block the sleeping power of Peter. If you need assistance, however, we can send some...." He glanced to Demetri, who was bristling with anticipation.

"I wouldn't," Jasper snapped.

"So what is your decision?" Caius asked.

Suddenly the room seemed void of any emotion at all. It was as if Jasper was concealing our own feelings as well as his. Sometimes I wondered if there was a breaking point... if his body would someday just give out from all the emotional weight he carried within it. Sometimes I could see it all lingering behind his eyes.

After a long moment of silence, Aro spoke again, taking a step closer to Jasper. "You need time," he said. "Take a few hours to compose yourself, to think, to hunt. We need to prepare you a ring anyway. I will leave the ring for you with Rosalie. She will be waiting in her room for you at daybreak. If you wish to take the gift we offer, you will be there." He extended a hand and took one final step forward. "We wish you luck, Jasper."

I watched as Jasper shied away from the hand, as if it was swiping at him, and took one final look around the room.

"I'm sure you do," he mumbled, and then dashed towards me. I had only a split second to step out of the way as he zipped by me and vanished out the window behind me. The sun was just a sliver of pink above the hills now as he glided over the rooftops, towards the forest.

We all watched after him a moment, before Aro spoke. "Your brother is always very careful not to let me touch him," he noted to me. "It makes me wonder what it is that he doesn't want me to see."

I tore my gaze from the window. "There are always things we don't want others to see, Aro," I replied acidly. "My brother just happens to be bold enough to act on that instinct-- to keep his thoughts his own."

"You _and_ your brother better watch your tone," Caius snarled. "I grow tired of letting your disrespectful comments go unpunished."

A terrible growl rumbled through my husband's chest. "Never speak to her like that again," Marcus glowered.

"Enough," Aro interjected wearily. "I will go and fetch a ring for Jasper, Rosalie. Then please wait for him as I instructed."

"What makes you think he'll take your offer?" I asked, no disrespect in my voice this time, only curiosity.

"You said it yourself, my dear. Jasper's thoughts are very much his own. I'm betting on his desire to keep them locked away. And I'm betting on his thirst for Edward's death. He'll come."

And I watched as his gray cloak billowed around him as he walked out the door.

*********

It wasn't quite daybreak yet, but I was waiting anyway. I sat at my vanity of pink marble and cherry wood, watching my reflection as I turned everything over in my mind. Maria's death, the desperate haunting look in Jasper's eyes, Atieno's miserable existence, the vampires in America... they all swam in my head as I pushed the ring Aro had given me across the marble-top with my finger. I looked into my own red eyes, studying their crimson depths as if they weren't my own. I was thinking back... thinking back to a time when my face wasn't quite so beautiful, but my eyes were the most brilliant shade of blue imaginable.

I was thinking of the brother I used to know.

I was only ten when my big brother went to join the Confederacy. Before then, my life had been perfect. My mother and father raised the two of us in a small but lovely home in Texas. I would wear dresses too big for me and get them dirty in the high grass of the horse pastures. Mother would try to stay angry, but she never could. Jasper would ride his favorite horse bareback and make the girls smile. He had this gorgeous white Tennessee Walker named Alice, and when you put that creature and my handsome big brother together, no one could resist. People always loved Jasper; he just had a way with them. People loved me too. They'd say I was the most beautiful girl in the state... perhaps in the south. The Bell of the South, the called me. Before 1861, it was good to be a Whitlock child. Jasper would read to me in bed, with the window open and the crickets singing. But it has been my experience that no joy like that can last.

When he went away to join the army in 1861 my world slowly began to fall apart. I heard very little from him during those years of the Civil War, though he tried to write as often as he could. He defied all odds, especially his young age, and was quickly ascending the ranks. He became the youngest Major in Texas, even younger than everyone else realized. I kept all his letters in a box beneath my bed. That box was gone one summer night in July of 1863. I ran hysterically to my mother, demanding to know what had happened to it. She was sitting on the porch swing outside, rocking slowly and staring into space. Her face was red and her eyes small with drying tears.

"Where are the _letters_?" I demanded once more, stamping my foot like the spoiled twelve-year-old I was.

"You're brother's dead, Rose," my father choked out, walking into the light cast from the open front door. "You won't be getting any more letters."

And that was the night I died. I lived for another six years after that, but technically my life stopped after the Battle of Gettysburg, where my brother had died on the field. His body was never found, and my parents never found any closure. A wandering and wounded Yankee came to the house a few months later and took my brother's horse, Alice. My mother killed herself a few months after that-- threw herself into a freezing lake one winter and chose not to swim. My father was never the same. It was like he was just as dead as I.

I grew up. But it didn't feel like it. It was like I was watching myself through someone else's eyes. I was the most gorgeous girl in the state, but no man dared pursue me. To them, I was just another casualty of the Civil War, another piece of the South that had been lost.

The summer of 1869 my father died of the fever. I think it was what he wanted. I was alone for ten days before that fateful night in late June. I was collecting the laundry from the line, covered in dirt, sweat, and soap. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt pretty. The wind pushed one dangling sheet out of the way and I saw him. He was standing very still, watching me in the darkness. My big brother.

I dropped the basket of laundry, the sheets and clothing tumbled onto the grass, and he took a careful step towards me. He was even more handsome than I remembered, and I was certain I was seeing a ghost. His face sparkled like an angel's in the moonlight, and his skin was a beautiful translucent white, not the sun-kissed Texas tan I remembered.

It was the certainty that he was an apparition, and I had finally slipped into madness, that kept my feet firmly on the ground as he slowly approached me. He stopped just a foot shy of me, and I found it strange that he seemed to be shaking slightly.

"Alice is gone," he noted quietly. His voice was different. Deeper, more velvet.

I nodded. "A long time ago, Jasper," I spoke. Just saying his name brought sobs to my throat, and I blinked back tears. He spotted them, and suddenly I was overcome with a slam of emotion... guilt. It didn't even feel like it belonged to me.

"I miss you so much," I cried softly, fear ripping through me that he would vanish soon, and I would be carrying the soiled laundry back to that empty house alone.

"I do too," he told me.

"Please don't go," I pleaded.

His eyes darted about anxiously, and I finally noticed that they were a piercing red. A strange color for an angel. His deep indigo eyes had always been so warm, so inviting.

"Would you like to come with me?" he asked hesitantly.

I breathed out a sob. "More than you can imagine."

His face became heartbreaking, and he reached out cautiously to run his fingers over my cheek. His hands were ice cold and smooth as stone. "Please forgive me," he whispered.

"For what?"

He inched closer to my face, his mouth was only inches from my throat as he said, "You'll see."

Three days later, I was a vampire.

My brother's wife Maria had been teaching him all about training and fighting vampires, and he'd become even better at that than he was at killing Yankees. But there was one skill he hadn't mastered yet: turning a human. Jasper had little control over his thirst, and wasn't very helpful in Maria's quest to create newborns. He'd failed many times, devouring a human's blood before they had any chance to change. But finally Maria appointed him a new target, one she was certain he couldn't bring himself to kill-- me. I was the only human he loved enough to not destroy.

She was right, and I've spent the rest of my existence wondering whether I should hate my brother for what he did to me. Most of me said I should. Jasper said I should. But somehow I just couldn't. He was never the same big brother who read to me before bedtime, but we were together again. I was no longer alone. I had Maria, who was like a sister to me. And then they brought me to Italy, where I met Marcus, and became a princess, if vampires had princesses.

I could never hate Jasper. He could feel it if I did. And I could feel him. He hated himself enough for both of us.

"You realize how sick this is, correct?" his voice behind me made me jump in my chair. He was crouching on my windowsill, his eyes less dark, his hair less tangled, and clothed in a proper button-up shirt of gray, but that wild and desperate look was still etched into his face. "I shouldn't be able to sneak up on you like that," he scolded me, slipping into my room. "You need to sharpen your skills."

I ignored his rebuke. "Does this mean you're taking the ring?"

He ignored me in turn. "Where is Marcus?" he asked.

"With Aro. He knows you wouldn't have come if he were here." My husband's talent was to sense relationships between individuals, so he perhaps understood the one I had with my brother better than anyone.

"Keeping something like this from us?" Jasper pressed, eyes wide. "These rings? Demetri, Maria, and I were rounding up these prisoners for that ring? And they didn't tell us?"

"We all have our secrets, Jasper," I sighed. "This was one of theirs. You've always known who you were working for."

"Did _you_ know about this?" he snapped.

I frowned. "Of course not!"

"They're using my rage to get them what they want," he muttered darkly, raking a hand through his hair and pacing the room.

"They've been doing that from the beginning," I countered. "This time your rage is just deeper."

He stopped pacing and turned to stare at me. "Are you accusing me of being used?"

"We're all guilty of that," I said. "At least your use is more interesting. I'm just a pet."

He knelt before me, eyes burning into mine. "You are much more than that."

I wished I could cry; sometimes the pressure from all those tears deep inside me caused my body so much pain. I wondered if that's the way it felt for Jasper with all those emotions. I was sure he was feeling mine at full blast right now. I felt guilty for bombarding him with so much grief and guilt all on top of his own.

"Don't feel that way," he shook his head.

"What are you going to do?" I asked. "Will you take the ring?"

He stood and paced again, then stopped at the window. "What do you want?" he asked, looking out into the gray sky of morning.

I felt the words tumble out of me; they were easier to speak to his turned back. "I want the Cullens _dead_!" I snarled. "I want the one called Edward to burn for what he did to Maria. I want his mate to watch and his siblings to wail! I want you to be safe!" I spat the last one out without even realizing I was saying it, "And I want to come with you!"

He turned with a horrified expression. "You will certainly not be coming with me," he insisted.

"Please?"

"You're not a warrior, Rosie. You'll be safe with Marcus."

"I can't lose you again!" I shrieked. "It feels too much like that last night in Texas. When you were sixteen. You told me you were meant for greater things. You never came home! I wasn't great enough for you!" I couldn't cry, but sobs still clogged my throat.

Jasper was at my side before I even noticed he'd moved. "Stop it," he demanded. "It's not like that. It wasn't even like that then. I will be coming back. I won't ever leave you again."

"You shouldn't be here," I said softly. "You're not like the Volturi. You never were."

He stood slowly, a troubling look on his face. "I wish that were true," he mumbled. "But it's not." He held out his hand to me, palm up. "Give me the ring."

I should have felt bad for him. But right at that moment I felt giddy. I was glad he was taking their gift. It gave him a better chance. It brought revenge that much closer. Perhaps I was the most like the Volturi out of all of us.

I picked up the ring from my dresser. "You need to take off your wedding band," I said reluctantly. I heard the growl in my brother's chest as he recoiled slightly. His eyes ignited. "Aro said you must," I insisted. "A lone vampire with a wedding band raises too many questions. There will be too many lies to keep track of, you know that Jasper."

He swiped the ring from my hand, and stuffed it into his pocket. "I'll do it when I'm ready," he snarled.

I cast my eyes down sadly. "He also wanted me to tell you to begin your search in Oregon. He got a reading on Peter Cullen when he was holding him. He mentioned that they'd have to leave Alaska, and Peter immediately thought of Oregon. Apparently they've discussed their next home already."

Jasper nodded thoughtfully.

I could tell he was ready to go. "Please be careful," I begged quietly. He was the only one who saw this side of me.

He touched my hand, and I held onto it until he was too far towards the window. He paused at the sill. "These rings are wrong, Rosie," he said to me. "I know that. But my wife is dead. Edward Cullen must die. And I must do it. And so none of the other stuff matters. I _do _belong here. I'm a monster, Rosie. Among the Volturi, I am one of the worst. Remember that. I don't deserve your praise."

And then he was gone. I watched the window for a while after that. I was thinking again to that night he left me in 1861. His dark blue eyes were sad, but his face was smiling as he held me.

"Alice will need your attention and company," was the last thing he told me. "And don't ever let her act like she's prettier than you."

He'd been chuckling then.

Tonight's goodbye sounded entirely different.

But it sure _felt_ the same.

*********

**_A/N::::: Thanks so much you guys! Back to the Cullens next! Jasper vs Edward? Who comes out on top? We've all read Eclipse...._**

**_And yes, Rosalie is a bit less bitchy in this chapter. Like I said, I wanted to take a look at her deeper side, and how her brother brings that out of her. But don't fret, we'll definately be seeing just how much of a bi-otch Rosie can be ;)_**

**_Another note: The African vampire? Atieno? Her name means "born in the night". I liked it._**

*********


	5. Gone

**_A/N:::::: Yep, it's been a while. But I've had a lot going on. I'm looking forward to the next chapter of this, but first I had to get through this one. This should explain Bella's past a bit more for you. Hope it's clear and doesn't bore you. It's a little graphic... or at least disturbing. Be forewarned. Thanks so much for reading, and reviews make my day. :)_**

**_Also, I now have Twilight t-shirts for sale on my youtube account (link in my profile). I designed the picture myself. It's a reference to a joke-vid I made a while back that kinda got waaaaay more views than I could ever imagine. It's Jasper attacking Bella in New Moon. The joke-vid is called "Jasper's Struggle". Just thought I'd throw it out there. You don't need to have seen my vid to understand the shirt. You just need to have read New Moon. :)_**

*:*:*:* **_ChApTeR FiVe _***:*:*:*

_Gone._

*:*:*:* **_SoUnDtRaCk_** *:*:*:*

_"Breathing Space" by X-Ray Dog._

_"If you don't create change, change will create you." --- Unknown_

_***_

It's a fantastic thing that vampires could not faint, or Bella would have been out like a light. And it's a good thing they can't cry either, because I would have looked like a blubbering baby; Peter would never have let me live that down.

That moment, the one beside the moonlit Italian river, would always be with me. It would always be lingering just behind my eyes, brightening every moment of my endless life. Always. Even now, though that moment was long over, I could see it just as clearly as if I'd been standing there now, brushing back Bella's tangled hair and tracing my thumb across her icy, furrowed forehead as she gazed at me in wonder.

Carlisle had gently passed her off to me, and for the very short amount of time we had, I had clung to her weak body and buried my nose into her hair, sucking in deep breaths of her scent, which smelled even more fresh and wonderful with my vampire senses. I may not have been able to weep, but I was grateful then that the others couldn't see my face. Bella's frail arms were wrapped around my neck with a tightness that shocked me in her state, and she was sobbing incoherent words into my chest.

I'm not sure how long it was before Carlisle reluctantly reminded me that the Volturi couldn't be far away.

I finally lifted my head and looked at them. My adoptive father was watching me with heavy eyes, worried eyes, but there was a slight glow to his face. My reunion was causing a smile to tug at the corners of his lips. He was a sucker for any displays of love. Charlotte was frantic, as usual, her wide eyes searching the woods in every direction, her keen ears no doubt wide open for any sound to alert us. Peter wasn't watching me, and he wasn't looking for danger. In his usual way, he was calmly and distractedly scratching his nails into the trunk of a nearby tree, leaving pale scars in the bark.

I leaned my face closer to Bella's once more, every fiber of my being yearning for this moment to carry on forever. "Bella, we need to get out of here. I'll try to be gentle, I promise."

"I'll be fine," she promised, her voice sweet with sheer bliss, even as weak as it was.

"Where is Jane?" Charlotte asked, and I felt my stomach fall to my knees.

I paused a moment. "She's gone."

I watched a wave of grief wash over Carlisle's face, making the glow that had been there just moments before fade from his skin. Charlotte let out a shocked sob, and Peter walked over to silently comfort her. I felt sick. My fault. All my fault. Jane had always been on the outskirts of our family, never quite as committed to our circle of love as the rest of us... but she was still a part of our clan. A part of our family. And now she was gone, because of me. Because of my undying love for the beautiful creature in my arms. And as I looked down at Bella's pensive eyes, I felt even worse for believing it was worth it.

I still felt that way. The moment by the river had passed, leaving its permanent stamp in my memory. Our silent flee through the unwelcoming woods surrounding Volterra had passed. At present I was gazing out the small oval window, watching the pink clouds of sunrise fly by. As strong as I was, I felt my body tremble. So many years, so much planning, so much yearning, and it was finally over. She was here, beside me. We were going home. It was almost too much to bear, and I was tempted to ask Peter to play his trick on me and let me slip into a momentary slumber, just to allow for a few moments of peace. But then again, I'd be unable to look at her....

Bella was sitting right beside me, her head resting on my shoulder, continuing to suck in deep breaths as she took in my scent the same way I took in hers.

"I never thought you could smell better than you did all those years ago," she cooed with a soft smile, pressing her nose into the collar of my shirt. "But even as a vampire, you smell like new book...."

I smiled and kissed her hair. It was conversations like this that made me even more grateful to be on a private jet, instead of an airline. There was so much to be said... so many questions. It would all have been impossible in first class on a Delta.

"I always thought you smelled like wet deer," Peter remarked from the cockpit. He only muttered it, but all our ears could easily pick it up over the gentle hum of the engine.

I smiled cockily. "Your wife thinks I smell pretty good," I told him.

Charlotte, who was seated across the isle, turned to look at me, her doe-eyes ablaze. "I _do not!_" And she added mentally, _Don't piss him off! He's flying!_

But I was completely in love, and therefore giddy and reckless. My smile widened. "Like a misty morning," I continued.

But even that was not enough to scratch Peter's cool surface. He said over his shoulder, "You know, I think they make a chick perfume called Misty Morning." I chuckled softly, and Charlotte let herself relax against the headrest of her seat.

Carlisle was quiet in the seat furthest back. But I could hear him anyway. I could hear each mental sob he released as he thought of Jane, his youngest and darkest child. In the end, it had been her recklessness and her pleasure of causing pain that had brought about her death. I wasn't far when she had attacked the wandering sentry, and I could hear both of them.

I'd already been listening to the two sentries on patrol before Jane had come in. The one was awful... her mind giddy with the thought of burning vampire flesh. I had tried hard to tune her out, to rely more on her scent to see if she was growing closer. The other one was different. His mind had been dark as well, but spotted with other emotions, lighter emotions. It was like closing your eyes after staring at the sun. There is still mostly darkness, but flashes of light keep winking at you, trying not to die out. He was thinking of his mate, his wife. He was worried.

Then I could hear Jane, reveling in the fact that he was alone, that Carlisle wasn't there to urge her to be merciful.

_Don't do it, Jane!_ I'd shouted in my head, though I knew she could not hear. Only _I_ could read thoughts. _He's not a threat right now. Wait until he tries to intercept the others!_

But she had attacked, and I was forced to hear all of her dark thoughts as she forced her terrible illusion of pain into the Volturi's head. In the haze of agony, the other vampire's thoughts became unreadable. And then I felt a horrible wave of anguish, hate, and torturous pain. It was like Jane was attacking _me_. But then I realized I was only reading her thoughts. This pain was thrashing inside her now. Somehow her power had turned on her, and was crippling her.

_I...don't... understand...._ Her last thoughts before it all vanished.

I let a sigh escape my lips as I relived it. Then Bella's hands were on my arm, stroking my skin, and I felt that emptiness leave me. I looked once more into her eyes, still beautiful even when they were a dull red. Very dull. Almost black. The poor girl was very thirsty, but in usual Bella fashion had said nothing about it.

I looked as deeply as I could into her face, searching every speck of light in her irises. Still, nothing but silence. I pursed my lips thoughtfully... just as they had said.

"What are you thinking?" Bella asked me.

I smiled at the coincidence. "I was just wondering what _you_ were thinking."

She obviously had been hoping I'd ask. "I was wondering when you were going to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

Her brows raised. "Everything. How did you find me? How did you manage to convince these others to rescue me? How are you..." she touched my stony face. "Like this? How are you _here_?" She closed her eyes, overcome with emotion, and whispered, "I don't remember exactly what it felt like to dream... but I imagine it felt something like this."

I smiled and ran my fingers across her cheek until she opened her eyes. Then, right before I told her my story, I repeated the first words she ever said to me... "Nope. I'm here to stay, and I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

*********

The year was 1954, and it was raining the day I met her. My high school in northern Vermont was small enough that there had already been plenty of talk about the new girl from Seattle who would be entering the eleventh grade. Orphaned apparently, and raised by her older sister. The sister had stopped by the main office earlier this week. I hadn't seen her, but my best friend Ben had seen her, and according to him the new girl's sister had been a bombshell in her early twenties with bouncing curls of strawberry-blond. The idea intrigued me, but I had always preferred brunettes.

There were only about three minutes left until the bell for first period rang, but still Ben and I sat beneath the protection of the overhanging roof on the school's front steps. We were waiting for her. I didn't care if I was late for Biology; school was truly beginning to bore me. Most things seemed to bore me nowadays. I felt much older than I was, more tired. I wasn't even truly interested in seeing the new girl, but it was important to Ben, so I sat there beside him, leaning wearily against the brick wall of the school.

Cars were one of the new things that interested me anymore, and that was what caught my attention: the approaching rumble of a perfect hotrod engine purring over the cracking rain falling from the roof and pattering onto the pavement.

"Holy shit..." Ben mumbled, eyes going wide as a gorgeous '53 Chevy Truck pulled into the lot. He wasn't really interested in the car... I could somehow tell that he was just hoping whoever was inside would match the beauty of her automobile. He had a one-track mind sometimes. Even on a gray spring morning like this, the orange paint on the truck shone like a sun as it slowly and elegantly pulled into a free space in the lot. I saw some movement within it's shadowed cab, but I was too busy raping that car with my eyes to look closely through the windows.

Then the door swung open, and my life changed forever.

She didn't even seem to notice the rain, or the way it soaked her clothes and caused them to cling perfectly to her flawless body. The water cascaded down her mahogany hair as she smiled serenely out from her heart-shaped face. Even through the mist of the rain, I could see her stunning golden eyes watching our faces with a laughing light. I checked to make sure my mouth wasn't open... it was. But I only hoped I didn't look as ridiculous as Ben, whose eyes looked ready to fall from their sockets. She was easily the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen, with skin that glowed like pearls in the gray morning light.

I was suddenly to nervous to just sit there. She was now only a couple yards away from us, and I knew I'd be expected to say something to her soon. But what do you say to an angel?

"Ed? Where are you _going_?" Ben demanded quietly as I stood in a daze and made my way to the doors. "Are you crazy?"

"I... can't...." I muttered, and burst from the rain and into the quieting hallways just as the bell rang.

I was only a couple minutes late to class. I think the teacher said something reprimanding to me, but I didn't may her any mind. I still had my head full and fuzzy. I felt like I had finally awoken for the first time in ages, and yet it still seemed like a dream. I'm not sure how much time passed as I sat there, staring at my fists on the desk, before I heard the door open and my teacher greet another late student.

"First day is always a mess," she agreed gently, smiling sympathetically at the girl's soaked state as she gestured to the open seat beside me. I preferred to sit alone, and yet my heart stopped as Mrs. Bernard said, "You can take this seat beside Mr. Mason here. Just try to keep up as much as you can, dear."

The girl sat beside me after blessing me with a quick smile, and immediately began to doodle on her binder. Funny-- most people wait until they get bored before they scribble nothings on their folders. This new girl took to it instantly.

I wish I could have stopped staring openly at her, but it was somehow impossible. She peeked shyly at me every so often from behind her curtain of wet hair, but mostly she devoted her attention to the elegant swirls she was creating with her pen.

"You can all work in your table pairs," Mrs. Bernard was saying. "Pages 98 and 101. You have until the end of class. I suggest you get to work."

So apparently we'd have to speak anyway. I sucked in a deep breath (Lord, she smelled good) and tried to remain cool. "Took you a while to find the classroom," I noted with what I hoped looked like a confident smile. "I thought maybe my dopey friend Ben had scared you off at the doorstep."

She flashed a set of perfect teeth, which sparkled in the classroom light. Then, as if regretting it, covered them back up with her full lips curving into an embarrassed grin.

"No," she said softly, beautifully. "I'm here to stay. And I'm afraid you're stuck with me...."

It took me about ten seconds to realize I was in love with Bella Swan, and only twice as long to realize there was something very strange and possibly very dangerous about her. I wanted to be near her all the time, to look into those changing eyes, eyes that changed far too drastically, and to smell her unnaturally delicious perfume, and to run my eyes over her flawless porcelain skin. Bella was one of the sweetest and friendliest creatures I'd ever met, and yet despite all that, I'd never felt more snubbed in my entire life. In class, she was all talk and smiles, and once the bell rang, she was someone else. She was immediately wary whenever we were around a sea of people, and so I'd constantly invite her to be alone with me-- each invitation politely yet resolutely rejected. I was sure she'd been asked that same question by half our school by now; I was far from the only one dying for her attention. I wasn't sure if she was any more responsive to their advances. It didn't seem that way. During lunch, despite the various invitations to join other tables, Bella always chose to sit alone, at the table in the corner, nearest the window, and distractedly twirl an apple around in her fingers-- never taking a bite, like she was afraid to ruin its perfection.

She was gazing out the window by the time I finally got up enough guts to approach her. It was funny, all the times we spoke during Biology class, somehow this felt different. More real.

"Looks like we may actually get some sun this afternoon," I commented. "It's supposed to be sunny for the next few days." I thought she'd be startled out of her pensive moment, but instead she only turned slowly with a gentle grin, as if she'd known I was coming.

"Maybe it'll melt the snow," she said wistfully.

"You don't like the snow?" I asked.

"Snow is fine," she mumbled. "But I miss sunlight."

"Then come out with me after school," I said, trying to hide the desperation in my voice. "There's a quiet pond behind Bebe Park. I'll teach you to skate."

Her smile tugged just a bit at the corners, yet somehow became a bit sad as well. "What makes you think I can't skate already?"

"Then _you_ can teach _me_."

Her eyes, unusually dark today, cast down to the apple in her fist. "I can't," she said softly.

My heart dropped. "Why not?"

"My... my sister is pulling me out early. We're going to visit family in Maine for a few days."

Despite my overwhelming disappointment, I took a seat across from her. "Can I ask you something, Bella?"

She eyed me warily. "Sure."

"What happened to your parents?"

Again that sad smile. It killed me. "A car wreck," she replied quietly. "On their way home from a restaurant."

"I'm sorry."

"Tanya takes good care of me."

"Your sister?" She nodded. I bit my lip, reluctant to share, but unable to avoid it. "My mother died a while back too. Cancer."

Her dark eyes became almost black with sadness. "I'm very sorry Edward. What about your father."

"Not much of one. Big business man, goes into New York a lot. Left me with nannies and sitters until I turned fifteen and he believed me capable of taking care of myself."

A small crease formed between her eyes. "It shouldn't be that way," she said.

I shrugged. "It's not so bad anymore," I lied. "I'm used to it."

"But you deserve more. You deserve to be happy."

I burned my gaze into hers, and the truth escaped me. "All I want is you."

That last look of horror, longing, and anguish before she stood abruptly from the table and rushed out the cafeteria stayed with me for the rest of the day. It continued to flash behind my eyes late that night, as I skated in the freezing silence beneath the stars on Bebe Pond. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have spilled it all out so quickly, so unknowingly? There was something in her face, in her voice, in her very being that tore everything from me.

The park was empty and the sky perfectly clear as the moon stared down at me. I was thinking about her, about what she could be doing in Maine. I didn't like knowing she was nowhere near me. It was like having a piece of me stashed somewhere far away.

And then the silence of the night was shattered with the terrifying creak of ice. The frozen pond beneath my feet was shuddering as it cracked and shifted. I blew out urgent breaths of silver mist into the air as I flailed my arms and struggled to maintain my balance. I quickly tried to push on my skates and fling myself away from the crumbling ice, but I felt one huge slab break apart and tilt into the pond. My feet plunged into the freezing water; it was like running icy razorblades over my skin, and I blew out a startled gasp as I slipped.

And then, as if I had already died, she was there.

I felt her hand grasp mine, her fingers just as icy as the water, but her touch so much nicer. As if I weighed absolutely nothing, Bella lifted me from the dark water, and tossed me nearly ten feet away into the soft and snowy bank before vanishing right before my eyes into the water. The ice all around her gave way, and then there was nothing there.

"NO!" I screamed, clawing through the snow towards the water's edge. And for one terrible and endless moment it was deathly silent. An owl cried somewhere nearby.

And then her hand shot through the ice, about five yards from where she had fallen. It just exploded through the sheet of white, like it was ripping through paper, and I watched as she calmly tore at the frozen surface and lifted herself from the blackness and into the frigid night air. I was frozen at the pond's bank, my fingers clutching at the snow as if it would keep me from passing out, and my eyes open so wide the wind was bringing them to tears. My mind was reeling as Bella walked gracefully across the pond, carefully avoiding the busted ice, and came to stand dripping wet before me. Her stunning face, framed in soaking hair, reminded me of the first time I had seen her all those months ago.

She watched my stunned expression for a moment before that sad and wonderful smile graced her lips again. "Hello, Edward."

She wasn't trembling. Those perfect lips weren't blue. There was no steam coming from her breath. It could have been a summer afternoon as she stood before me in a light dress of soft cream. It matched her pale skin so perfectly, that I didn't know where she ended and the garment began.

"Bella," I breathed, feeling like I was dreaming as she bent down beside me. I gazed in wonder and reached out to touch her dripping face. It was cool, wet, and smooth. It reminded me of the fountain my grandmother kept in her garden, the one with the angel in the center, and the water falling down her marble face. But the angel had never smiled like this, with wide eyes, no longer dark but glowing amber in the moonlight.

"Are you an angel?" I asked softly, afraid to shatter the perfect quiet.

Her smile widened. "Far from."

"What are you?"

"Does it matter?" she asked, her smile faltering, her face becoming worried as that familiar crease reappeared between her brows. "Would it change anything?"

I shook my head dully. "All that matters is that you not vanish the moment I blink."

"I'm here."

"You're real?"

A smile again. "I'm real."

I looked back at the hole in the ice, the black pit in the sea of glowing white, like a gaping mouth. "You saved me. Why... how....?" I could no longer form sentences.

"The 'why' is easy," she told me, taking my hand. "Because you're all I want too, Edward. All I'll ever want."

My breath kicked in my lungs, my heart beating a thousand times a second. "Then the 'how' doesn't matter, Bella."

A serious look came over her face as she sat close beside me. Entwining her fingers in mine, beneath the glow of the moon, she told me anyway.

For three months I lived in a dream I could never wake from, that I never wished to wake from. I could tell Bella was worried. No matter how bright her smile, that little crease between her eyes never seemed to vanish. She was concerned about lying to her adoptive sister, Tanya, who had been her clan member and partner for years now.

"Tanya wouldn't approve," she told me once. "She violently mistrusts humans."

I frowned. "And yet she refuses to kill them?"

"Of course. Would you kill something just because you mistrust it?"

It was a good point.

Bella hated bringing me into her world. I could sense her reluctance, her fear and worry, each time the topic came up.

"I've come to terms with what I am," she had said to me. "It was twenty years ago that this happened to me. My parents and I were driving home from dinner, and another car drove us off the road. Killed both my parents instantly, and as I lay dying in the back of the car, I felt a pair of cold, strong hands pull me from the wreckage. Tanya had been out hunting when she heard the accident. She was lonely. Her mate had been killed not long ago by a pack of werewolves. She wanted a companion. She... turned me.

"It obviously took a while for me to adjust, but luckily my new sister was a vegetarian, so I never had to deal with the guilt of killing a human. I don't think I could ever let something as horrible as human blood slide down my throat.

"But everything was perfect before I knew of this life... this world. I shouldn't have taken that from you."

I had laughed then. "You haven't taken anything," I told her, and placed a kiss on her cool lips. She was never tempted by the scent of my blood. "You've given me _everything_."

The worst day of my life, and the last, began perfectly. It was spring in Vermont, and the rolling hills were glistening in dewy emerald carpets. It had been raining for a week straight, non-stop pouring rain, and each student at New Mill's High was becoming insane with cabin fever, all yearning to get outside, wearing nothing heavier than a windbreaker.

The morning of the end of my life began with more rain. It pounded on the glass of the cafeteria walls; the sound had become like a constant lullaby in our ears over the past eight days, and so when it suddenly stopped, it was like you'd gone deaf.

The students released a collective sigh of relief, some even cheering, and a handful of students burst through the double doors and into the damp courtyard.

"Come on," Ben urged Bella and me, his chair shrieking as it scraped across the linoleum. "I want to smell some fresh air."

Bella looked at me, smiling gently, and took my hand as we walked into the gray light. The wind was intense as we stepped outside, churning the charcoal and silver clouds of what had just been a week-long storm. The courtyard was now flooding with more students as they left the lunchroom and came to bask in the sweet spring air, even some of the faculty was coming out. Ben was wiping his hand over the soaked picnic table and flicking the water drops at me before turning to inflict this same joke upon Melissa Further, a senior girl who called him "Shorty". He thought that meant the pretty redhead must like him.

The last thing I remember before it all ended was how the strong gusts of wind were pulling the pink blossoms from a nearby Chinese maple from their branches, and the tiny flowers were fluttering like butterflies past Bella's perfect face as she looked at me and smiled. That crease between her eyes was nowhere to be found.

And then, without an ounce of warning, only two minutes after the week-long storm, the rapidly shifting clouds made way for a bright spear of pure, shining sunlight.

The warm shaft of gold flooded the courtyard, and I will always remember the awed gasps of the three dozen people as Bella's smiling face was suddenly shimmering like diamonds. The glare was enough to sting your eyes, and her marble skin was creating fragmented rainbows that bounced off the brick walls of the school. It would have been beautiful, had it not been so awful.

It all happened so quickly after that. The others hardly had time to formulate coherent questions and exclamations before they descended upon us. To this day I'm still not sure where they came from, and how even vampires could travel that fast. Back then, I had never heard of the Volturi, the ones who kept the law of the undead. The ones who had somehow known Bella had told her terrible secret to a human. The ones who had been waiting, patiently, for a terrible moment just like this.

No witnesses. That was all that mattered to them.

I don't know how many there were. My weak human eyes could not even begin to make out their faces or their numbers as they tore into the crowd of teachers and students. As quick as they moved, and as efficiently they worked, there was still time for screaming. Those blood-curling screams that still echo in my ears to this day, and I'm sure still echo in Bella's.

The snapping of bones, the thumping of bodies against the grass, the pounding of frantic feet, the smashing of glass... it all became one terrible explosion that rocked the spring afternoon. Bella spun to look at me, to bore her eyes into mine. Her face made her look like she was on fire. At that moment, I could have been a vampire, because I felt like ice... I felt dead. It all happened faster than I could register-- she was taking a step towards me, her hands held out to carry me away, carry me to safety, when her fingers were just... gone. She was gone. Somehow, in all the blur and panic, I managed to catch a glimpse of her being whisked away by a pair of cloaked vampires, who were struggling to contain her despite her snarls, snaps, and flailing. I screamed out her name until my throat was raw, and sprinted after her.

I don't know how I got as far as I did. Love can carry you incredible distances I suppose, and that was just what those meager ten yards were amongst all the carnage and slaughter around me... incredible. I had made it further than any of the other students, to the crown of the hill that surrounded the courtyard. Bella was no where in sight. I screamed her name again.

That was when I felt an indescribably strong force haul me backwards and hold me up, my feet dangling several feet off the ground. I looked into the dark hood of the cloaked vampire, an empty vastness aside from a pair of glittering crimson eyes. They bore deeply into me before hurling me into the air. I flew for several yards before being stopped by a tree and falling to the earth. I tried not to think about the bone-shattering crunch that ripped through me, or the warm blood that was already beginning to choke me. I felt darkness flutter at the edge of my vision.

"Edward!"

I could scarcely lift my head to see Ben standing just downhill, a small river of blood pouring from somewhere in his matted hair, and his face stark white with shock.

I wish I could have said something to him before it all happened. Before another cloaked figure fell upon him like a mountain lion, tearing him to shreds. I let out a desperate cry, and fell limp to the grass as the sobs shook my body. All gone... all gone.

I didn't even hear the vampire approach me. I just saw in the blur of the blood pouring over my face the feet whispering behind the gray cloak blowing in the wind. He stood over me for a long time as the anguish swept through me, as I waited to die, and then knelt beside me. He pushed back his hood, the only one I'd seen do that, but through my blackening vision I was unable to make out his face. And then somehow my anguish was magnified, like my sorrow had suddenly become tangible in the air. The treacherous sunlight was beginning to vanish back behind the clouds, but not before a dying ray caught my foe's face, making it sparkle. The rainbows blurred my sight even more. His hair was like woven gold that burned in the fire of the sunlight.

"Just...kill me," I gurgled, not sure if it was a plea or a taunt.

My erratic heartbeats were pounding in my ears, so loudly that I could hardly hear his answer.

"I... can't. I'm sorry."

And then the sun was gone. I felt its warmth leave me as I lay there dying in the shade. Gone... all gone....

********

Again... I'm glad vampire's can't cry. Though I doubt even Peter would have given me a hard time over shedding tears this time. At some point in my story, he had left the cockpit, and come to lean against the seat in front of Charlotte. I'd never told them the entire story... not like this. His eyes watched me carefully beneath his heavy brows, and for a rare moment he looked interested in something. I tried not to read his thoughts, but I could still hear some of them. He was thinking of his past... of the carnage _he'd_ been responsible for.

_… broken into bits like dry twigs... scattered...._

I tried even harder to shut his loud thoughts from my mind.

Charlotte was facing the window, her chin resting heavily on her fist, but I knew she was listening. She was pondering the power of love. She was thinking of what she;d do if she had lost Peter the way I'd lost Bella.

_Just sink into the ocean...._ she was thinking. _Just let the currents take me away. It can't be possible for even a vampire to survive that forever...._

Carlisle remained in the back of the plane, but I could still hear him. His thoughts were my own.

_Gone... all gone._

And then there was Bella, watching me with eyes that seemed to be infinite pools of sadness. Those red orbs were almost misty. If any vampire could cry, it would be my Bella.

And of course, her thoughts were known only to her.

"I didn't even notice that Volturi hunter leave," I resumed telling her. "I didn't notice much of anything anymore. There was this terrible silence for the longest time. And then I felt a hand touch me. I couldn't tell if it was human or vampire. I couldn't feel something as trivial as temperature. Whoever it was tried to speak because I could hear a faint muffling sound close to my ear. I tried to beg for you to return, Bella, but I'm sure no words came out.

"And then I felt this sudden flash of unimaginable pain. I thought I was finally dying. But instead three days later I was a vampire. And Carlisle was standing over me."

"I arrived too late to stop them," Carlisle told the others as he came to stand beside us; his face was stricken with pain. Both from deaths remembered and deaths still fresh in our minds. "I didn't know of Cauis's order until it was too late. When I got the the school there were bodies everywhere. The police were just arriving on the scene. They would later classify it as a serial killing. No one believed that. But there were no other answers. When I found Edward he was barely alive. I knew no medical attention could save him. I knew I could."

"I was the only survivor," I told Bella. "I'm not sure why they left me alive. Or maybe they didn't mean to. Maybe it was just the one vampire. And I still don't know if it was an act of mercy, or torture."

Bella reached out and touched my face. "Edward...."

I took her hand and held it tightly. It would have crushed a human hand to dust.

"I stayed with Carlisle and his three adopted children after that. They moved us to Alaska, since I couldn't be seen wandering Vermont anymore. I was happy. I had a father that my human life had cheated me out of. And I had siblings, even though we didn't always see eye-to-eye."

_What's the use when you can see our minds instead?_ Peter asked me with a devilish twinkle in his eye. I just rolled my eyes, not even bothering to fill anyone else in.

"But the whole time, I thought you were dead. Carlisle told me the Volturi would certainly kill you for what happened."

"That was a firm belief of mine," Carlisle said, and you didn't need to be a mind-reader to hear his guilt. It was unnecessary. "That's what Aro told me happened, and that's what I had seen firsthand."

"But then, just last week, a member of the Volturi coven came to our home. They were simply delivering a message to Carlisle, something trivial. She got one look at me, remembered my face, remembered the killings she'd committed that day at our school.... I could read it all in her head, and she had no idea.

"I didn't say anything. I didn't want to challenge her there, to put my whole family in danger. So I kept my mouth shut, watching her stare at me like I was a ghost. And then..." I held Bella's hand even tighter. "She thought of you. She knew where you were. She knew you were starving and weak in the tower of Volterra."

Bella's mouth dropped. "We let her walk out the door. And that night we were planning on how to get you back. Since then, it's been a whirlwind. We haven't stopped working to save you."

Bella flung herself into my chest, throwing her arms around my neck as she buried her face into my shoulder.

"I love you," she whispered.

I shut my eyes, my insides trembling. "I adore you."

And then, as if suddenly realizing something, she pulled away, a look of panic and worry on her face. That crease was there.

"But now you have to run don't you?" she breathed. "The have amazing trackers. They'll hunt you forever."

"It _is_ unfortunate for us that vampires have so much time on their hands, isn't it," Peter chuckled, back to his mode of nonchalance as he swaggered back to the cockpit.

"It's okay," Carlisle promised softly. "We have ways of hiding. We know what we're doing. And we've moved in a rush plenty of times before."

Bella dipped her head sadly. "I just feel awful," she lamented. "Forcing you all to leave your home."

"Bella," I whispered, putting my finger beneath her chin and lifting her face. It sparkled in the glow of the soft red sunlight. "My home, my heart, my _life_ will always be where you are."

As Bella let herself rest into me once more, I kept my senses open, listening for a mental sneer from my brother, or a piece of worry from Charlotte. But my still heart felt more alive as I heard nothing but a collective agreement from the three others in this plane as we flew into the unknown. Into home.

*********

**_A/N::::: Thank you again everyone! Hope you enjoyed finally seeing things through Eddie's eyes, and I hope I wrote him all right. And for you Alice, Emmett, and Jacob lovers out there... don't worry. They're coming :)_**

**_--Tiki_**

*********


	6. Standing on the Edge

**_A/N:::::: Ok, so I had sort of a burst of writing-fever, and decided to pump out another chapter of this story. (Don't worry, "Nightfall" readers, I've already begun my next chapter.) Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter. I'm having some trouble getting this story out there (maybe b.c of it's strange story and massive AUness, lol) but I'm so glad that you who DO read it have let me know how you feel. I hope this chapter doesn't dissapoint; I had fun writing this one. _**

:*:*:*: **_ChApTeR SiX _**:*:*:*:

_Standing on the Edge._

:*:*:*:* **_SoUnDtRaCk _**:*:*:*:

_"Running up that Hill" by Placebo._

_"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."-- Franklin D. Roosevelt_

_***_

It was easier out here, out in the middle of nowhere. Amidst the age-old trees that stretched on forever, in the green and gold sunlight that filtered through the canopy of leaves. The forest was painted in the vibrant colors of fall that defied the dull daylight of Oregon. Out here, there were only creatures: birds that sang from the branches, foxes that flashed orange through the brush, deer that spooked at my smell long after I had flown past them. Out here, there were no emotions. Out here, I could breathe... not that I needed to.

I needed this emptiness.

Days no longer meant anything to me. Time was still. I had no idea how long I'd been wandering these woods. I kept my nose in the air, searching for that scent I had caught in Volterra. Any one of those scents. But there was nothing. Once I caught the scent of some other vampire, but this one was not a Cullen. This was a human-drinker. A nomad. It smelled like firewood and ivy. The vampire was alone, and had vanished off towards the state line, heading south. This was not who I was looking for.

Perhaps I should have made sure. Perhaps I should have followed my only possible lead a bit further. But to be honest, I was afraid. The lone vamp was headed towards more populated areas, and I could not imagine myself surrounded by a sea of humans right now. I recalled the trip overseas, the plane, the airport-- all filled with humans and their resounding tangle of emotions. Normally, I'm able to handle myself quite well, despite the fact that I live every day in a chaotic mess of emotions that aren't mine, but are felt just as strongly as if they were. But not this time. This time, I could hardly handle my own emotions, let alone everyone else's. I had cracked the armrest of the plane's seat as I gripped it in my fist and closed my eyes against the bombard of feeling around me. The girl sitting next to me, no older than sixteen, was filled with fear, filled with hope. It was her first time riding on a plane alone, she had mentioned to the flight attendant, but she was on her way to meet her boyfriend, who'd moved away just last spring. Her emotions were so strong that it was causing my chest to pound. She kept smiling over at me... waves of attraction hit me hard. I couldn't keep looking at her. She smelled good, and I was very thirsty. As hard as it was to handle their emotions like this, it would have been impossible to endure when I was feeding on them, feeling their utmost terror. I had been unable to hunt since I lost Maria.

My body felt weak, hardly up to the par I needed if I was ever to face the Cullens. I had rarely gone a week without feeding at least several times when I was in Italy, and back when I was in Texas. This feeling was awful, but to give in to my thirst... to feel their emotions in the state I was in... would be far more crippling.

I came to the edge of a stream, and bent down to scoop my hands into the clear water. I wished I could still drink water... it looked fresh. I put my lips to what I had cupped in my hands and took a long sip. When I swallowed it was like swallowing your own saliva... completely dissatissfying. Totally bland. I angrily flung the remaining droplets on my hand into the air, where they sparkled in the dull sunlight before creating ripples in the stream. Nothing was good for me anymore.

I was thinking of the stream in Italy, of that last moment we shared before it all ended. I was thinking of her dark, waving hair framing her bright red eyes, and the way her smile lit the night for me. I shut my eyes and listened to the crickets in the forest; they reminded me of the sounds in my ear as I lay dying in Gettysburg. I was running over the memory of Little Round Top in my mind as everything grew fuzzy around the edges. Of the look in General Chamberlain's eyes as he and his Federal soldiers charged us down the mountain, their bayonettes smiling at us as the wave of blue uniforms crashed down upon us.

As I shouted to my men, watched them scurry for their lives, I remember turning one more time to meet eyes with the Union General from Maine. _I hope I live long enough_, I thought, _to be great like that_.

But I never did. I died on that battlefield one day later, the youngest Major in the Confederacy, but far from the greatest. I died and instead became a monster, a nightmare.

Then it hit me on a gust of cold November wind.

The hot, undeniable, and delicious smell of human blood.

I was as far from Major Jasper Whitlock as I could ever be. I wasn't human. I wasn't even vampire. I was so thirsty that I had become something else entirely. I had become nothing. An empty shell, a machine driven to kill. I took off along the riverbank, moving faster than the rapids, faster than the wind, detached from my own body. I swear I didn't notice anything, until it was too late.

The emotions pelted me like acid rain. Fear, confusion, love for his family, hope that somehow this would turn out all right. His anguish continued to ripple through me, long after his heartbeats had ceased. It was the same as always, but somehow this was the worst yet. I couldn't even finish, the machine shut off, and suddenly I was me again, crouching over the limp body of a fisherman. I watched as his blood floated downstream. A leaf drifted through the pool of red, and a beetle was hitching a ride on its stem. It waved its antennae at me curiously.

I was trembling; I sagged into the stained water beside the corpse, feeling the blood drip off my chin and onto my chest. I suddenly heard this terrible howl, this cry of despair, echo off the towering trees, and I realized that this overwhelming sense of disgust was not only coming from myself. It was mingled with a sense of duty that was not my own.

As fast as I was, I scarcely had time to turn my head before it fell upon me-- a wolf the size of a small horse.

I fell backwards with the force, tumbling into the water. I felt a searing pain rip through me as the dog clamped its mighty jaws around my forearm, its fangs digging deep into my rock-hard skin. Its brown eyes glared up at me right before it tore my arm from my shoulder with a toss of his head. I screamed into the forest and grabbed hold of the scuff of its neck; I launched it into the air. The werewolf hit a tree with a heavy crack, and staggered back to its feet as I stood from the stream. The smell of the human's blood beneath me was over-powered by the terrible sting of the wolf's scent, burning my nostrils.

The wolf growled at me, his russet fur bristling on his shoulders and back and his black lips curled over glistening teeth. I set my mouth into a firm line as the pain from my lost arm already began to ebb. The wolf ran at me again. This time, I was ready.

Water sprayed around us as I held his dangerous jaws inches from my face. They snapped and snarled, spitting into my eyes. I growled back, my chest rumbling and my teeth pressing together tightly. This wolf was young, but he was strong. I'd fought a few werewolves in my time, but never had they been so quick, so strong, and certainly never this resolute. This wolf was determined to kill me.

He managed to tilt his head and bite down on the hand that was on his chest. I hissed at the pain, and flailed my one arm, throwing him off me. But he had barely touched the stream before he was back on me again. But this time I saw his direction. I reached out and wrapped my hand around his throat, stopping him dead. He didn't struggle, he didn't bite, he just waited for me to squeeze. He waited for me to shatter his neck to shards. His emotions hit me; he was sad. Not afraid. Only sad.

I was sad. It made it too much to bear. I looked down at my feet, still submerged in the running water of the stream. Small rivers of blood were still snaking past my legs. Blood of the human who was worried for his family. The one I'd killed. I choked on my grief, not even noticing the wolf in my clutch anymore.

I opened my fist and let him fall to the ground, and then sunk on my knees into the water. I watched the sunlight wink off the pebbles on the bottom as the water churned about my waist. I listened to the laughing sound the rapids made, and lifted my eyes to the wolf. He was standing not three feet from me, one paw lifted in ready-mode, staring down at me on his tall legs. I couldn't read his expression, I couldn't even feel his emotions anymore. I was too wrapped up in my own. I swear I was out of touch with everything now.

I stared at him through my wet, tangled hair. "Just do it," I said quietly. No human could have heard my voice over the babbling brook. But a wolf could, or a vampire.

I shut my eyes and waited. Random images ran through my mind... a shining back horse named Alice, cannon fire popping in the blackened air, a black-haired angel hovering over my dying body, a blonde beauty staring open-mouthed at me through fluttering laundry, a shattered boy crying at the roots of a tree, a windowless tower blocking the moonlight, billowing purple smoke spouting from the trees, a wedding band glinting off a finger in the grass, a sister's tear as she watched me slip from the window, a fisherman's hat soaked through with blood....

I wanted it to vanish, to all explode with a flash of pain, and then fade into nothing. But it was only silent, and when I opened my eyes the river in front of me was empty. The wolf was gone.

The wolf was gone, but the echo of his emotions still throbbed in my head. The forest was no longer so empty.

I stood slowly, my chest heavy with regret that the creature hadn't ended it all. Had he known that this punishment could be worse than death? Really there were only two drawbacks to being torn to shreds by a werewolf. One was that I would never see my sister again. I promised Rose that this time would be different, that I would return to her. She may have been over a century older, but that night I left for America, for revenge, she looked just as small and vulnerable as she had the day I left for the war. Sometimes I could see pieces of the girl she used to be, little fragments of the Southern Bell Rosalie Whitlock who drove all the boys wild and who stuck out her lower lip when she wanted sure of something. I never felt like any bit of me was left anymore. I never felt any fragments of that eager kid who marched off to face his destiny, too young to join the Confederacy, and too stubborn to care. I never felt like I could make a difference anymore. I was a million times more powerful now than I was then... but I never felt like it.

The other reason to live was quench the fire that burned in my throat, a fire that did not cry out for human blood. This fire burned for revenge. This fire was for Maria. This fire would burn Edward Cullen and his coven. I needed to live. I needed to be around long enough to watch Edward's remains float into the air on a tower of purple smoke.

I waded a few feet through the water to retrieve my arm, which was laying across a stone in the river. I pursed my lips thoughtfully as I held the twitching limb to my dully aching shoulder. The throbbing faded as the two parts of me knitted back together. The process was like watching an invisible spider weave a glittering opal web, until the mass between my arm and my shoulder was solid, just as it had been moments before. I stretched it out carefully, testing, flexing my fingers.

A mouth-watering scent was kicking me in my chest, and I was brought back to the present as I noticed the blood still flowing downstream. My stomach turned. It was the first time human blood ever made me feel sick, ever made me feel anything but euphoria, or animalistic lust. I tightened my jaw as I watched it lap against my legs. I was still fairly weak; I hadn't even come close to drinking the amount I needed to keep myself strong. But I had no desire to let it touch my lips. I'd burn first.

I waded the few yards upstream to the body, bobbing in the river as it lay amongst the rocks with his pole, which was snapped in two. My stomach continued to churn. I carefully picked up the body; he was large and soaked, but it felt like nothing to me. I stopped breathing; I didn't want to smell his blood anymore. I didn't want to think about how his clothes smelled like his wife had washed them with lavender fabric softener. I carried him onto the bank and began to walk through the rustling trees. This reminded me of when I'd carry my fallen comrades from the battlefield. Only I was never this crippled by such an overwhelming sense of guilt. Of worthlessness. I'd carried my best friend, Gabe, across a smoking field as he begged me to take him back to his mother... as if I had that within my power.

It was getting dark by the time I stopped walking. I'd come to the ridge of the mountain, overlooking a sprawling sea of pines far below, and beyond that were rolling mountains turning purple in the fading light and reflected in a still, mirror-like lake in the distance. As far as that lake was, my eyes could still spot the pair of fishermen in their rusted rowboat, a father and a daughter.

I buried the body there. I didn't want anything to get to him. But then I began to worry that others would come looking for him, so I constructed a simple cross of birch branches to mark the spot for any search party. Luckily I hadn't been running when I left the stream, or I'd be burying him on the other side of the state. I hung his hat over the cross, and looked down at the soft earthen mound. The tiny pebbles were sparkling in the dying light, and somewhere a kingfisher laughed.

I remembered a distant part of my human life, a part that I thought had died with my beating heart so long ago. I thought of the way it used to fill me up... used to keep my company in moments of stillness, push my feet forward in times of pain, and used to calm my spirit.

I bowed my head. "Amen..." I muttered. I hadn't said anything beforehand, but I hoped it'd be enough for now.

I stayed there as night fell, crouching on the very edge of the rocky ridge, letting the fresh wind clear away the scent of the blood still lingering beneath several feet of loose dirt. The air smelled like fireplaces from houses very far away. I was feeling homesick. Was I? Was that... me?

Suddenly I was aware of that smell... that sharp smell that made my nose crinkle. I spun around in a flash. They could be even quieter than I thought....

A pair of eyes sparkled in the darkness, shadowed by a cavern of leaves as he drew nearer. I didn't sense any fear, or aggression. It was all homesickness, sadness, loneliness. Maybe even some surprise... at himself.

He watched me curiously with every slow step he took, and I stared at him silently, keeping perfectly still as I continued to taste the emotions in the air around us. He came to pause just shy of the birch cross, taking a quick but deliberate look at it before returning his dark eyes to me. To my utter shock, he was in human form. The werewolf was no more than a kid, perhaps a few years younger than I'd been when I was changed. He had deep russet skin to match his fur, very unlike my pale skin that was currently even brighter in the moonlight. His hair was almost as shaggy as mine, but ebony, not blond. He was dressed only in a pair of tattered shorts, much like me actually, in my torn jeans. Somehow the supernatural have a thing for dressing casually... and lightly. Or perhaps it's just the feral ones.

The wolf-boy cleared his throat awkwardly, obviously having hoped I'd be the one to speak first. He was crazier than I thought.

"Do you... always bury them?" he asked quietly. His voice was coarse, like he hadn't spoken in a while.

I didn't move an inch. "No," I replied even more quietly.

He raised his brows at my quick response, and gestured to the rocks beside me. "Can I sit?"

"No," I repeated.

"Why not?" He folded his arms. "I saved your life."

"I know," I growled. "Can't you feel my overwhelming gratitude?"

"Actually no. Only regret. Which is why."

I frowned. "Why what?"

"Why I didn't kill you."

I blinked in dull surprise.

"How do you do it?" he asked me. "Show me your emotions?"

My frown deepened. "How do you explode into a wolf upon command?"

He chuckled softly and nodded. "Just pure talent, I guess."

"Then you have your answer. Though 'I just can' was more what I was looking for."

A smug grin touched his face and he nodded towards my arm. "See you grew it back," he sneered slightly.

I growled. "Pure talent."

"Hm..." he mused. I sensed an odd feeling within him.

"What is it?"

He shrugged. "I've never spoken this long to a bloodsucker before," he told me. "They're normally dead pretty fast."

I blew out a snort, which I guess was my attempt at a chuckle, and finally moved an inch.

The werewolf frowned. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"You killing my kind? No. Can't say it shocks me. Isn't that your job?"

"No, I mean calling you a bloodsucker. I was testing this emotions thing... wanted to feel if you got a riled up."

I snorted again. "I have news for you, pup-- takes a lot more than that to rile me up. And why should it? I suck blood. Therefore, I am a bloodsucker." I pursed my lips in thought. "As a matter of fact, it's probably a more accurate term than 'vampire', anyway. Very few know of vampires the way we do, Fido." I smiled... a somewhat maniacal smile, but still my first in a long time. "See? My talent works. Both 'pup' and 'Fido' upset you. Someone will abilities such as yours should have a better hold on your temper." I felt it flare even more, before dying down quickly. He actually had a pretty decent hold on himself for one so young.

"So where are you coming from?" he asked me, taking a careful step forward. "I've only been following your trail for a couple days."

"Far away," I replied distantly. I looked at him curiously. "And you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're not from here, either." It wasn't a question.

"What makes you say that?"

"Your pack isn't with you. Plus," I added, turning to look out at the valley and the lake beneath the moon. "You're homesick."

I felt annoyance. He didn't like the way I could read him.

"Pretty ballsy," he commented roughly. "Turning your back on a werewolf you just met."

"I could turn back around before you could blink," I replied confidently. "And it's also pretty ballsy to approach a vampire in human form. Especially one like me...."

"One like you? You mean a killer? Aren't you all?"

"I mean one beyond control."

"You mean one on the edge," he corrected. This was not a question.

"...yes."

I heard him take another step forward. It was difficult to catch the sound of his movements; he was nearly silent even in human form. "So why are you? On the edge, I mean."

"Why would I tell you?"

"Where is your coven?" he asked me.

"I don't have one. I'm a nomad."

"You're a _liar_," he corrected again, growing closer. I still did not turn to face him. He still didn't radiate anything more than sadness and curiosity. "And a bad one too. I can feel that you miss someone. Don't forget that a freak like you pushes out your emotions as much as you can take them in. So... who do you miss? Who did you leave behind?"

"Leave me alone," I hissed.

"Fine. I'll try another. Why didn't you finish him? The human? You buried him before you drank what you needed. You're still thirsty. I can see it in your eyes. You already killed the poor bastard. Why not finish him?"

I felt my jaw clench as fists formed at my sides. "Stop asking me questions."

He was now at my side. I turned slowly to face him as he leaned against a young tree that grew from between the great rocks. His expression was calm and interested. Just one push... it would be like kicking a pebble off the edge. Could his wolfish healing save him from a fall like that?

"Why didn't you kill me?" I asked again. "I destroyed that human. Why let me live?"

His brow shot up. "I already told you...."

I shook my head. "You're a worse liar than I," I spat. "You did it because you're _that_ desperate for someone to talk to. Because you're _that_ lonely. Where is your pack, pup?"

His face grew somber, his eyes darkened. "I left."

"Liar."

His frown deepened. "I was made to."

"Why?"

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Now _you're_ asking the questions?" he snorted. His tone was more bitter now. It comforted me to feel him lose his cool. I didn't like being the only one clinging to my composure by the skin of my teeth. I felt his bitterness, his shame, his burning indignation. "Why should I answer any of yours when you won't answer any of mine?"

"Exactly," I snarled, taking a few angry steps closer to the edge of the mountain. I was teetering over the very edge now. In more ways than one. "Why should either of us tell the other _anything_? An exiled wolf pup and a guilty monster.... I'm sorry you're lonely. But it's not my problem. I have my own to face." I glanced one more time at the birch cross by the dirt mound-- its pale bark glowed silver like my own skin in the moon glow. I couldn't meet the wolf's eyes again. I didn't want to see what I could already feel. "When you get back to civilization, make sure someone finds the body. Tell them he was killed by a wild animal. Tell them you chased it off a cliff. It won't be coming back."

Without waiting for a response, I flung myself from the edge.

The fresh night air whipped past my face as I flew through the sky, down down down. The treetops beneath me slowly drew nearer as I soared. The bitter smell and the even more bitter emotions of the werewolf slowly vanished as I fell into the valley. I landed onto a towering pine, which swayed with the impact of my fall.

I found a sturdy branch and curled up in its embrace. I wanted nothing more than to be able to sleep, to lose myself in a flurry of dreams and blackness. But no such relief could come. Not only do vampires have all of eternity to dwell on their darkness... but they have every waking second of it. The sun rose and fell again before I even noticed. I didn't leave that tree. That's how irrelevant time can become to my kind. It felt like just a few hours to me. I wondered what would happen if I just stayed there, cemented to this tree in my frightening state for the rest of my existence, like a gargoyle to a cathedral. Snow would gather on my back in the winter, and rain could pelt my face. Would Rose forgive me? Would she forget me? Would she ever be happy? Would my loneliness, anger, and burning thirst fade into a constant yet tolerable throb inside me over time? Would it feel just like this? As if no time had passed at all? Would anyone come looking for me? Could they find me? Or would I be like that fisherman? Lost forever in the sea of trees?

The wind suddenly blew long and strong from the east, and carried with it a scent on the twilight air that kicked me in my dead lungs. It was warm and delicious, wet and wonderful. Human blood. I stirred slightly on my branch, digging my nails into the bark as I shut my eyes against the onslaught. As wonderful as it smelled, it also turned my stomach. It reminded me of confusion, fear... of a passionate love and worry I felt for a family I had never met. I wrapped my fingers tightly around the branch, as if anchoring myself to my sanctuary. I didn't want it... I couldn't stand another barrage of emotions. It seemed better just to starve.

I pressed my back firmly against the pine's trunk, shutting my eyes as tightly as they could shut, feeling shudders travel up and down my body. What had happened to me? Was it physically possible for one individual to withstand so much change in the span of less than three weeks? Perhaps all this shuddering was my body's way of telling me no.

I soon felt the humans' emotions as their scent strengthened. I cringed. Oh no... they were coming closer. They were sad, angry, shaken up. I frowned, the last emotion catching my attention further. Another scent, far less appetizing. Dog. German Sheppard. Two of them. Four men. I heard their voices as the sun vanished behind the mountains. They were now not more than half a mile away, walking towards me not from the small town beside the lake, but from the hill I had leaped from just last night.

"No sign of it," I heard one man say, followed by some garbled static. He was speaking into a radio. "Yeah, the dogs picked up some traces of blood. Honestly, sir, I don't understand how anything could have survived a fall like that, but... I dunno. To find it nowhere? The dogs took us south once we got to the bottom, and they'd stop to sniff traces of blood." A pause. "Yes, but then... nothing. They had nothing left to sniff. They turned right back around, sniffing at what seemed like nothing. The blood just stopped, and the dogs seemed occupied with something else." Another pause. "Well whatever they're interested in _now_ ain't anything we need to worry about. No sir. Not the same thing. Whatever they started to follow has left no traces of blood, no busted undergrowth, nothing. Probably just a hiker, though I can't even find any footprints out here."

My curiosity got the better of me, and I found myself slipping silently through the treetops, towards the intoxicating scent. But this time, it wasn't my thirst that was pulling me.... I stopped about ten yards shy of the police, hidden by the falling darkness and the canopy of leaves and pine needles. The four men were standing around with their dogs, zipping up their coats in the chill of the night and listening to the static that I could understand much better now. Their superior was asking about the creature's size again.

"We need to put something out into the paper if it's still out there," he was saying to his men.

"Came to about shoulder-height, Captain."

"Taller," another cop said over his shoulder.

"Maybe as tall as your average man, sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Brown fur?"

"Yessir."

"You said this was... a wolf?"

The officer cleared his throat uncertainly. "That sure as hell is what it looked like. But I have never seen one of those things get so goddamn _big_. I tell you what sir, that poor guy never had a chance. Make sure all the fishermen know to steer clear of the streams for now. We need to find this thing first."

My curiosity increased, and I frowned to myself.

Then a cell phone buzzed quietly in one of their pockets. "That's my wife," the youngest officer commented, taking the phone from his jacket pocket and walking with his dog away from the radio conversation. I watched him trek through the undergrowth to a quieter spot, holding his phone at arm's length as he searched for decent reception. I thought momentarily before leaping through several trees to linger just above him.

"I'm fine, babe," he was whispering into the phone. "No, haven't been attacked at all."

"What happened?" I heard a distant female voice cry nervously from the ear piece.

He sighed. I sensed deception in his emotions, but then it quickly faded to anxiousness. He'd been contemplating lying to her, toning down the story, but the strong sense of trust and respect I felt flowing through him now changed his mind. The man's dog had caught my scent, and was wagging his tail and lifting his head into the dark treetop. But his master was far too preoccupied with his phone call to notice.

"Craig, me, and some others were out searching for that Aarons guy. Found a trail of blood and some large paw prints by the trout stream. Thought maybe a cougar.... The dogs followed the scent for so long, I was wondering if maybe they were mistaken. Then this afternoon, they started yapping and growling really aggressively. Then this... monstrous... _wolf_ of some kind, biggest I've ever seen, came from the shadows. Had the poor guy still clutched in his jaws. Blood was everywhere. He growled for a minute. We all just stupidly stared in shock. I mean... this thing was... _huge_. A real killer."

"Oh Scott," she sobbed.

"It's all right, hun. He dropped the body, and we pulled our guns. Craig shot two rounds into him, but he took off anyway. The dogs chased, and we followed. He was fucking _fast_. Never seen anything like it. I still don't even know how we caught up to it a few minutes later. I'm guessing his wounds slowed him down. Anyway, he stopped at the cliff's edge, turned and snarled. Kelso shot him once more, and then it just... jumped. Right off the cliff."

"Did you find it?"

"No. Been searching all night. Trail ran dry. I think it's still out there Sarah. Keep the kids inside."

I didn't stay to listen anymore. I took off through the woods. The last thing I heard him say was, "No I didn't. I just... couldn't shoot. I'm kind of ashamed I guess. But I don't know, Sarah. There was just something so... human in those eyes."

I climbed down swiftly to the forest floor the moment I was clear of the men, and started running. My senses were stretched out as far as they could go. All of them. My ears continued to catch bits of the search party's conversation and the dogs barking after my sudden movement until they were swallowed by the howl of the cold November wind. My nose and throat were soon relieved a bit as the smell of their hot blood faded, replaced once again by the burn of very distant stoves and the musky perfume of rotting leaves on the ground. I smelled a large array of wildlife, but not the creature I was looking for. My sense of emotions caught nothing. Only my own. I threw them out as far as I could. Hoping he'd catch them. I don't know for sure why I didn't just let it lie. But somehow I couldn't. I _had_ to ask, to understand. And maybe even... to check. To see that he survived. God, could I really care?

I ran south for about twenty miles, coming across only two sets of emotions. But upon closer inspection, both turned out to be human. One female hiker who was feeling spiritual, and a male motorcyclist on an empty road who felt important. Funny. I didn't want to kill either of them, and their emotions didn't make my head ache. They actually just made me feel... less alone.

By the time the moon had been out for hours, I stopped at a rushing river that cut through the forest. I liked being near the water. It reminded me of her. Of the nights we'd spend after hunting, away from the humans, away from the Volturi. Just us. Just us and the river.

Suddenly an echoing howl cried out, not one mile away from me. A flare of hope welled up inside me, but then the howl was joined by another, and another. I sniffed the wind, and the warm scent of wild wolves filled my nostrils. I picked up a flat stone and tossed it across the river. It skipped perfectly five times before hitting the other bank. My throat ached with thirst, and I found myself wondering what the prisoner from the windowless tower was doing right now. Was she happy? How long would she remain so? How much longer until her bliss ended with my own? How much longer until I destroyed her new family? I knew I would kill her lover. Kill their brother, sister, father.... I wasn't sure if I could kill her. Or would it be an act of mercy for me to destroy her? I'd been asked to do it once before... kill someone out of despair. A long time ago, outside a school in Vermont, where a dying human named Edward Mason had begged me to end his life. I hadn't done it then. I somehow couldn't. He felt so... shattered. My head had still been ringing with the echoes of the feelings of fear and confusion from the other human he'd just watched die at Demetri's hand. A simple snap of the neck could have killed that other boy... killed him quickly. But Demetri had torn him apart. And so I had left Edward Mason alive, though who knew for how much longer.

I held a flat stone so tightly in my fist that it was crushed to dust. I sucked in an angry breath of night air, trying to calm my raging emotions. I should have killed him. I'd give anything to go back and end the pathetic life of Bella Swan's human lover. With him dead, my life would still be intact. My love would still be alive.

A wave of new despair swept over me at the same moment that a new howl sprang into the night, this one several miles away. It was different than the others, more music, a ringing cry. It was sadder, more beautiful, and more haunting. I knew at once that that was my boy. Grateful for the distraction, I pushed my feet into the soft embankment, leaped across the river, and took off into the night.

I ran in the direction of the cry. Ran until I could feel him, though he was still too far to smell. The wind was blowing towards him. His emotions were the same as before, only perhaps peppered with a bit of grim accomplishment. I scaled the nearest pine and exploded eagerly into the starry sky above the trees. I didn't know his name, but I knew he could hear me.

"Her name was Maria!" I shouted into the night. My voice resonated across the valley, carrying for what must be miles. Vampires can really shout when they want to. "She was my wife!"

I waited. Not nearly as long as I thought I'd have to. He was fast.

"What happened to her?" he asked, stepping beneath the tree and looking up through the rows of branches. I didn't climb down, I just jumped off the top to land softly in front of him. He certainly didn't look like he'd been shot three times and fallen off a mountain. He just looked... sad. But I could feel past his face. He looked sad, but he _felt_ hopeful. Pleasantly surprised. I realized with a degree of shock that it was because of me.

"She's dead," I said coarsely, feeling the words catch in my throat before quickly running from the subject. "What did you do?" I demanded.

A small grin tugged at his lips. "You heard somehow, huh? I guess I'm not surprised. You bloodsuckers don't miss much, I'll give you that."

"What did you do?" I repeated.

"Dug up the body. I'm sorry I ruined your grave site, but I didn't want them out looking for a murderer. Not one like you, anyway. Not one that could easily slip into a crowd. Not one for them to never find. I wanted them to see who'd killed their man. So I carried the body a ways back towards the stream, until I smelled the dogs. Then I changed, and gave them their killer. I gave them their closure. Took some shots at me, after I scared the poor sons of bitches half to death. I'd hoped that if I fell off the cliff they'd just _assume_ I'd died. No such luck though. I ran south for a while, hoping they'd give up the chase. Doesn't matter," he shrugged. "They won't find me. Only harm it will do is scare people out of stupidly wandering too deep into the woods and running into..."

"Something like me," I finished grimly.

He eyed me carefully before nodding.

"You did all that to lead them to the body? Why not just lead them to the grave site? As a human? You could have said _you_ buried the body, made the cross...."

He shrugged again. "I don't like taking credit for other people's actions."

"Just their murders," I noted darkly.

"I meant the nice things. And what you did for that guy... well," another shrug. "It looked nice. Sorry again that I had to ruin it. But now his family knows what happened. He was killed... by an animal."

I snorted. "I've been called worse."

He grinned. "I'm sure you have."

"That was pretty decent of you," I admitted somberly. "Putting yourself through that for a stranger."

He scratched his neck awkwardly, shrugging yet again. He radiated embarrassment... and pride. "Sure, sure," he mumbled.

"So where are you going now?" I asked him.

He looked around him, as if trying to pick which direction to walk. "Not sure," he confessed. "I'd like to find someplace to stick around longer if I can. Someplace with trees like these, though. I like these woods." He chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "I was thinking of heading north." A hammer of homesickness hit me again; he'd said 'north' with a strange degree of softness, of longing. He looked at me curiously. "What about you?"

"Not sure, either," I told him. "I'm looking for someone."

A grin. "Anyone I know?"

"Know many bloodsuckers?"

He snorted. "A fair few. But... well let's just say we don't have many long-term relationships."

"Killed any with bronze hair lately? Looks my age?"

"No," he replied after a moment's thought. "Got me a bald one last month though." He crinkled his nose. "I thought all you leeches were supposed to be good-looking?"

"Some find shaved heads attractive," I shrugged.

He shook his head. "This was _not_ attractive. I'd _never_ shave my head."

"Don't worry, I don't think even sheers would be able to tackle that mess of yours," I noted.

"Look who's talking... what's your name?"

I paused for one of his heartbeats. "Jasper," I told him. "And one of the benefits of being a vampire is that our hair never becomes tangled or dirty. A massive difference between you and I, dog."

"Dog? So not calling me 'pup' anymore?"

I sniffed in quiet laughter. I hadn't even realized that we were walking alongside one another through the creaking trees. "Consider it a promotion," I muttered.

He stuck out his lower lip thoughtfully and nodded. "I guess I can take that. But just so you know," he cast me a side-long gaze. "My name is Jacob."

*********

**_A/N:::::: YAY! Thanks again everyone! I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this chapter. And yes, I know it was still a little on the dark side (haha, I said darkside... like in star wars) but at least it wasn't as dark as Edward's chapter. _**

**_Till next time:_**

**_--Tiki_**

*********


	7. New

**_A/N::::: Ok, so this is a short one, but I really would have just been filling it with crap if I made it any longer, and I don't want to bore you. We have a new narrator this time, so just wait a moment until he/she is revealed. Hope you like it. :)_**

:*:*:*: _**ChApTeR** **sEvEn **_:*:*:*:

_New._

:*:*:*: **_SoUnDtRaCk_** :*:*:*:

_"Sleepy Head" by Passion Pit. (Random? Yes. But listen to it... it sounds SO like "the big brother". LOL)_

_Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. ~Faith Baldwin_

***

It was one of those dreams where you know you're dreaming, and you're not quite sure if you want to stay asleep or try and wake yourself up before it turns bad. We've all had them.

I was strolling through a field of wild clover and irises; I must have still been in Forks because it was heavy with a lavender mist and the promise of rain. It was just a forgotten corner of the wilderness, a hidden sanctuary from the overwhelming trees, a place where you could see the sky and smell the earth. The dew of the long grass soaked my jeans and shoes as I walked idly along. I was looking for my brother, but for some reason I wasn't in much of a hurry. I called his name a few times, but my small voice was easily lost among the giant trees that surrounded the meadow. I screamed it out one more time, and my call echoed into the distance.

My echoes began to fade into new voices, soft voices that were like music. More beautiful than the fluttering song of the leaves in the wind. I tried to make them out as they called so softly from hidden places around me. I should have felt afraid, being surrounded as I was, but instead the sounds only filled me with wonder. Finally, one voice broke out just strong enough for me to understand it, just as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.

"This isn't your world," he said.

I swallowed loudly, searching for the source of the song-like voice in the shadows of the forest. "It is now," I tried to say with confidence, but it felt shaky.

Finally he stepped out from the trees, a god-like man with golden hair and matching eyes. In the weak sunlight his skin sparkled like ice. "I've seen what happens," he told me quietly as he drew nearer, "When these worlds combine. I've let it happen."

"I'm not afraid," I told him, sticking out my chin, speaking stronger this time.

Then from nowhere a dark-haired angel swept down with a gust of wind, her chestnut hair floating about her gorgeous face like she was underwater. She reached out and touched the perfect man's chin. "Don't," she spoke, sounding like a chorus of bells. "I'll forget if you will...." She then turned to look at me with an apologetic smile, a brief glance before returning her gaze to the sparkling man. A gentle pull on his hand and he began to follow her, his expression dazed, into the forest, away from me.

"No!" I shouted. "Don't leave!"  
I suddenly felt a horrible pain in my hand, which had been hanging at my side. I sucked in a sharp breath and held it to my chest tightly. It was bleeding, a crescent bite mark around the base of my thumb. I looked down at the grass beside me to see a massive dog with shaggy brown fur staring unabashedly at me. He didn't run, didn't cringe, didn't snarl. He just looked... wistful, in those intelligent amber eyes.

"Did he bite you?" the beautiful man called as the angel continued to gently pull him into the woods. I nodded, stunned. He shook his head with a wry twist in his worried mouth. "There's no losing him then," he told me. "Now you belong to him."

His voice was now just as faint as an echo, and as he vanished into the shadows and mist I looked down again at the waiting dog. The blood continued to pour from my hand, and as I stood there aching, I looked deeply into its eyes and wondered whether or not I wanted to stay or run.

There was a violent rapping on the door that woke me from my dream. My eyes shot open to see the hazy light of another cloudy day filtering through the purple curtains of my bedroom.

"Come on, Al," my father was saying on the other side of the door. "You're gonna be late for school. Better get up before your brother gets the bathroom first."

He always knew what motivated me.

I threw the comforter off me in a flash and sprinted to the door. My father was still standing there, hands resting on his belt with an expression that looked like he just got back from work, rather than getting ready to leave.

"Thanks," I smiled.

He nodded. "Another dream?" he asked me, his lips pursing anxiously beneath his mustache.

"I'm fine," I widened my smile for further proof.

"I could hear you shouting through the door."

I frowned. "Shouting what?"

"'Don't leave'," he recalled, his brow furrowed in worry.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my mussed hair; it always looked like a dead thing in the morning. "I told you I'm fine," I assured him. "It was nothing."

"You weren't dreaming... of your mom?" he asked reluctantly. I could hear the pain heavy in his voice. Charlie never liked to bring her up, especially to his children.

"Dad, I dream of the future. Not the past."

And it was true, I never dreamed of what had been, only what could be. But that didn't mean that I thoughts of the past didn't fill my head every day. Especially the memories of that last night my mother was alive. The night I had a horrible dream of her, crying on the forest floor in a pool of blood as some shadowed figure kissed her wrist. I hadn't said anything, not one thing, about the dream the next morning. I simply sat at the breakfast table as my mother asked me if I was ready to start the eighth grade. She made scrambled eggs for my brother and me, kissed me on the forehead, and walked out the door after mentioning we were out of orange juice. That was the last time I ever saw her. I should have said something... I should have wrapped my arms around her waist and demanded she never leave. Instead, I just finished my eggs, bugged my twin brother about some girl who had rejected him the day before, and waited for my father to come home red-eyed and pale to tell us they'd found Mom's car abandoned on the side of the road, door still open and radio still on.

While my thoughts had been elsewhere, I saw a huge shape run past my father and me in a blur, followed seconds later by the slamming on the bathroom door.

"No!" I shrieked, and threw my tiny body against the door, clutching the doorknob in my fist. It refused to turn. "Let me _in_!" I shouted.

Charlie rolled his eyes and turned to walk down the stairs with a weary sigh.

My brother's laughter exploded from within the bathroom. "Mine now!" he crowed.

I slammed my palm against the door. "Dammit, Emmett, LET ME IN!"

The smile was unbearably distinct in his voice as he replied, "I don't think you'd like that right now."

"I was up first!"

The toilet flushed. "I'm sorry," he called over the running water. "I can't hear you!"

"EEEEEEEMMMMMMEEEEETTTTTTTTT!" my shrill shriek carried down the hall and made our family photos hanging in the stairway rattle on the walls. It was my fault... getting all thoughtful like that, losing sight of my goals. My twin brother, well-versed at being a colossal pain in the ass, was probably the only soul under the sun who could spend more time locked in a bathroom than I. He was notorious for flossing his teeth until his gums bled, shaving meticulously until all stubbles were gone, and standing in a towel before the mirror, impressing himself with his own bulging muscles. Ugh. Sometimes I really hated him.

But aside from Charlie, he was all I had. Despite my open and extroverted personality, I had never really excelled at making close friends at school. My dad always told me that I was too much for a small place like Forks. Maybe he was right. This place had always felt like it _could_ be home... but something was missing. My complete happiness was like a puzzle that just had one piece out of place.

I gave up for the time being and with a resigned sigh went downstairs to where my dad was reading the paper and munching toast at the table.

"Say uncle?" he asked, not lifting his eyes from the headlines.

I dramatically flopped down into the chair across from him. "For now..." I sighed. "I know a lost cause when I see one."

"Toast?"  
"Yes please."

He pushed me the plate of warm bread, the extent of his culinary skills, and turned the page of the newspaper. "I want you kids to stick close to busy places for a while," he told me sullenly, continuing to read. "No wandering near the woods. There's been a few sightings of some big animal roaming nearby, or animal_s_."

"Like what?" I asked, licking the strawberry jam off my finger. It wasn't like this was disturbing news to me... Charlie hadn't allowed Emmett and me to go into the woods since Mom vanished.

"A wolf or bear or something. Not too sure, but it's big. Some said it was black, others say brown. Leads me to believe it's not alone."

\"Has anyone been hurt?"

He raised his brow. "Surprisingly no," he confessed. "But I'd rather not give it the chance."

"Are you going to try to catch it?"

"Ya gonna blast it Pops?" Emmett asked as he swept into the kitchen and flung himself onto the chair. It creaked beneath his massive bulk. People always say it's impossible that he and I could be twins, due to the dramatic size difference. I always tell them that Emmett took up all the space in the womb. Anyone who'd known Emmett for more than ten minutes would believe it.

"If I have to," Charlie replied, taking another bite out of his toast and speaking with his mouth full. "It might be too big to take down without a fight."

"But there _are_ tranquilizers," I offered.

He nodded. "And they will definitely be our first approach," he agreed. "I just don't want to promise anything, kiddo."

"Well," I tossed my crumpled napkin onto my empty plate and rose. "Just be careful out there."

"Always am."

"Need a hand, Pops?" Emmett offered, piling eight pieces of toast onto his plate along with the bowl of Cap'n Crunch and grapefruit. "I'd be more than happy to skip Biology, and our Lit teacher hasn't been in class for at least a week. I've always wanted to nab a bear."

Charlie chuckled and shook his head. "No thanks, Em," he said. "I think you just need to concentrate on your schoolwork. I haven't even heard of any grades from you in the past month."

"I'm doing fine," he quickly replied, chugging his milk.

"You got a D in Biology yesterday," I added, dumping my plate into the sink.

"Emmett!"

"You ASS!" my brother shouted, sending his chair flying as he stood and I laughed as I headed for the stairs.

"Think twice before you steal my bathroom!" I giggled, and paused at the top of the stairs just long enough to hear Charlie give him a good verbal licking.

*********

It was the middle of March in my Junior year of High School. By now I'd settled into a very comfortable pattern when it came to eleventh grade. My brother drove us to school each foggy morning in his jeep wrangler, which he kept open even when the days were still far too wet and cold. I shivered grumpily in the passenger seat, bundled up in my jacket as the moist wind slapped me in the face and destroyed the hairdo I'd just worked so hard to perfect. I hated that car, but it was my only ride. I couldn't really complain though... Emmett had earned and saved the money for his vehicle for over a year and a half, working as a lumberjack. With my pathetic job at the equally pathetic mall, I could never afford my dream car. Well... not with my taste.

"It's your choice, Al," Charlie had told me when I'd sobbed over the sparkling yellow Porsche on the television last year. "That car or your fully-stocked wardrobe."

He knew all too well which one I'd pick.

And so every morning would begin with a wind-chapped face, soggy hair, and a smug brother leaping from his car onto the parking lot like some kind of animal.

After that, my day continued as planned.

Biology class, where I sat completely bored and did nothing to disguise it. I never cared much for science. I wish I could say that I sat alone in the corner, but I sat with Jessica. I was chatty, but Jessica never stopped to breathe. On the rare occasion when I would actually raise my hand to answer a question, I swear Jess would not stop her one-way conversation even when I was speaking to the teacher. I'm still not sure why the teacher never told her to stop... maybe he was just afraid of putting himself in the position to have _any_ form of conversation with her. It was like jumping into a raging river without knowing how to swim... it has complete control, and you can only slowly drown as it carries you away.

"Have you heard about the new kids?" she was asking me. Usually I always teetered between the horror of subjecting myself to the monotony of the biology lecture or the irrelevance of Jessica's monologues, but this subject happen to momentarily pique my interest. New students were a rarity in such a small community.

"No," I frowned, keeping my eyes staring to the white board in the front of the classroom and speaking out the side of my mouth. "Have you seen them?"

Jessica leaned forward and brought her face just inches from my shoulder, much less concerned about hiding this conversation. "Not yet, but I heard they're _gorgeous_. Angela had the one for Literature today."  
"Had him?"  
"He's our new Lit teacher, the oldest one. Mr. Cullen. But he's hardly older than us. Angela said he's brilliant though, and _hot_," she gushed, much more interested in the second attribute. "The other two are dating."  
"Dating?" I frowned again. "Already? Did they move here together."

"Yes," her grin stretched wide, savoring the scandal. "They're brother and sister."  
"_What_?!" I hissed a bit too loudly.

"Alice Brandon," the teacher called my name from the front of the classroom. "Care to share something? And I'm truly hoping it's about mitosis."

I grinned, probably less sheepish than I should have been. "Sorry for the outburst," I apologized. "I'm under control now. Carry on."

He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "Thank you, Miss Brandon," he murmured sarcastically.

Once he was fully-enthralled in his lecture, I turned my head slightly more towards Jess again. "Brother and sister?"

She shrugged a little, "Well, not _really_," she confessed. "They're foster kids. Not really related. The new surgeon in town can't seem to settle down with a wife or something, so he adopts instead. Or, he fosters. Or something. They're a bit old to be adopted."  
"Maybe he adopted them a while back," I suggested.

"Like when he was twelve?" she snapped back. "I hear the guy's just a few years older then our new Lit prof."

My furrowed brow deepened. "Strange."

She nodded, smiling again. "All I know is, third period just went from suck to sexy."

I shook my head, smiling slightly. "Who talks like that? What grade are the dating siblings in?" I asked wryly.

"Ours."

"Well at least the new girl's taken," I sighed. "I don't feel up to any more of Emmett's conquests right now."

Jessica's eyes flared a bit, and I cringed. I'd forgotten to stay mum about the taboo subject of my brother. Jess had been a "conquest" once. It hadn't gone well... or long.

"You know how High School romances are though," she continued after recovering. "They never last long, and new hottie Cullen could be free for grabs before you know it." A sadistic grin made her eyes squint. "Maybe we'll have gym together... I can wear those tiny green shorts and bend all the right ways in volleyball...."

I fluttered my eyelids wearily, and started folding my Bio notes into origami. Jessica's conversation had returned to being irrelevant.

*********

Two more class periods before lunch. Spanish was all right. I hated the teacher, but I tried to imagine I was preparing to go to Spain. I'd always wanted to explore Europe, to meet exotic and new people. Maybe my dad was right... maybe I was too much for a small place like this.

Algebra was worse. Mike Newton, who sat right in front of me, kept turning around to help me with my assignment. I hated breaking his heart every time I rushed to complete the assigned problem before he finished his... but I had to try my hardest to avoid his hand gripping mine as we clutched the same number two pencil. I found myself writing any old number if I thought time was slipping by too quickly. Once I actually slammed the pencil down on the desk and shouted "Done!" just as I spotted poor Mike turning around to check on me. I tried not to notice his puppy-eyes as he turned back around. I sighed with relief, glad he hadn't noticed that my answer was really not even a real number. It was actually some hybrid between a percent sign and the letter G. I giggled to myself.

I was all stiff with excitement by the time lunch arrived. It was pretty likely that I'd get my first look at the new kids in the cafeteria, and I had a feeling that they'd sit with me. It was just a feeling, a strange tugging in the back of my mind... but I was usually right. I sat at my usual table, with Angela, Jessica, Mike, and my brother. Lunch was actually when I loved my brother most. Emmett was never really close with Mike, or any of the others for that matter. He was friends with all the other football players, but he always sat with me. It was some sort of comfort thing, and I loved him for it. Though I'd probably never tell him.

"Heard the girl was hot," he told me, stuffing a fistful of microwaved fries into his mouth. He rarely stopped eating.

"And taken," I warned with a knowing smile.

"For now," Jessica mumbled with a maniacal one.

"If they're anything like the new Lit teacher, I think I'll just give up, quit school now, and join a monastery," Angela chuckled lightly, unwrapping her sandwich.

"Mr. Cullen's not _that_ good-looking," Mike snorted, taking a grumpy swig of his Mountain Dew. I rolled my eyes subtly; Mike felt threatened by every handsome student at Folks High. Probably a big reason why he never liked my brother that much. That _and _the fact that my brother was obnoxious.

"Waiting for the newbies?" Eric Yorkie asked, pulling up a chair and flopping down beside my brother. I saw his jaw tighten. Eric gave Emmett a headache. He tended to cling to my brother like Saran wrap, always gazing at him with this ecstatic grin and nudging him with his elbow.

"Oh Christ," he'd mutter each time he saw Eric walking eagerly towards us.

"Don't be mean," I'd chide. "He's a really nice guy."

"He's too damn happy."

"_You're_ happy!"

"But I'm also funny. He's just... always... smiling. It gives me the creeps. And he doesn't go away. Ever. He's like this cutesy butterfly fluttering constantly at your ear that you just want to smack away."

"Well try to cut him some slack," I urged, not bothering to deny his comparison. "He really likes you."  
"Yeah, that worries me too," Emmett grimaced, eying Eric as he drew nearer. "Look at him practically skip down the hall. He's a little light in the loafers, if you ask me."

Emmett has that same look on his face now, as Eric pulled his chair closer and leaned in between his head and mine. "I saw them first period, in World History."

"What were they like?" Jessica asked, her eyes thirsty for information.

"Can you back up a bit?" Emmett asked, but his voice was soft enough that Eric could successfully pretend not to have heard him. Instead he just beamed, obviously adoring this tiny ounce of power he currently held.

"Extremely pale, for starters. But I guess they _did_ come from Alaska or something. Their names are Bella Swan and Edward Cullen."

"Well, at least they don't share the same last name," Mike chuckled. "Makes the dating factor slightly easier to take."

"I think it's nice that two people like that found each other after being taken by someone like Dr. Cullen," Angela remarked gently. I smiled at her.

"Do we know if Mr. Cullen's seeing anyone?" Jessica asked. I sighed.

Angela's smile said enough. "He's married, I believe."

Jess's shoulders slumped.

"He said something about his wife working as a chef somewhere in town."

I wasn't facing the windows, but suddenly I had this feeling like I should turn around. I twisted my back towards the doorway and noticed a pair of students walking behind the partly drawn blinds. The door opened, and I realized that suddenly nearly half the cafeteria grew silent as the couple stepped into the room, caught up in their own conversation.

Edward was the first I noticed, as would be the case for any warm-blooded female. For once, the High School rumors were entirely accurate: he was beautiful. His wild bronze hair swept up around his chiseled features. His eyelashes were longer than mine, and his lips a prettier shade of pink.

"Is he wearing makeup?" Emmett snorted beside me, but I could barely hear him.

I swear it was like James Dean had just strolled into the school, his books tucked beneath his arm and his heavy brows raised over laughing eyes as he planted a loving kiss on his partner's cheek.

My eyes traveled over to Bella next.

"Oh my God," I gasped, my heart giving two heavy kicks and my breath catching in my chest.

Shimmering golden eyes, dark hair that tumbled in soft curls around her heart-shaped face, and a shy smile that turned into a happy lip-bite as Edward's kiss touched her lovely face.

It was the angel from my dream.

*********

**_A/N::::: Yay Alice! I love her, and I hope I do her justice. This chapter was kind of hard to show her quirky personality in, but I hope it'll shine through more as the story continues. And yes, I made her human name Alice Brandon. That makes her brother Emmett Brandon and her father Chief Charlie Brandon. My story! My names :P_**

**_All questions concerning the Cullens' move to Forks and Bella's recovery after Italy will be answered in the next chapter. So don't fret if you're a bit confused. Thanks for reading everyone! Reviews make my day :D_**

**_--Tiki--_**

*********


End file.
